Ankush Jain has given a speech on beatboxing. The Chennai-based artiste was part of a TEDx event in Pune earlier this year, where he was touted as India’s first multi-instrumental beatboxer. He used that platform to underline a point that Chennai’s fledgeling beatboxing community is trying to prove everyday: ‘beatboxers are musicians as well’.
Back home, he reiterates the same, adding with some consternation, “In most events and concerts in Chennai, beatboxers are still just fillers. We are rarely considered an act by ourselves.”
One of the few platforms trying to help them break this image is the Adyar-based Unwind Centre. Multiple beatboxers cite the centre’s occasional events as a platform to both showcase their talent, and to meet people who share their passion.
Edison Prithiviraj, director of the Unwind Centre, sees the community growing in size as well as scope. “For instance, a lot of acapella groups in the city are using beatboxing in their stints.” The community has quite a mixed crowd, he says, adding, “Last time we had a competition, we had a participantin his 40s. He had never tried beatboxing before, but he observed those who performed before him and picked it up.”
It’s not always as easy as that, of course. Though most of the artistes in town are self-taught, they agree on the degree of technicality that goes into it. “We have to think of tempo, rhythm, scale…” says Ankush, “And you need to have a large body of sound, from base to ziplines and cigars.” The 21-year-old is too shy to demonstrate what he means by each, but a quick search on YouTube leads to his array of musical experimentations. He mixes his beatboxing with a range of instruments, from the harmonica to three different kinds of flute.
But what Ankush is doing is an advanced version of what most of the community here is practising. Vivek Khinnavar, a fourth-year engineering student at SRM, wouldn’t go as far as Ankush to call himself a professional beatboxer. But there’s no mistaking his passion.
“I started beatboxing when I was 16,” says the now 21-year-old Vivek. He plays mainly at college festivals, and says the following for this is still pretty limited.
But the beatboxing community in Chennai, feels Vivek, has one advantage over cities like Mumbai and Delhi. “The Southern cities are very close-knit, mainly because of the distance,” he points out, “Beatboxers from Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai travel to support each other’s gigs. It’s becoming a strong, bonded community. The artistes in other big cities can’t do that easily.”
“The community has definitely grown in the past few years; at least now, people know what beatboxing is,” he says, a tad wryly. “There isn’t much scope for forming clubs and such yet,” adds Vivek. Not that he hasn’t tried; he is one of a number of people who are trying to build a community online, mainly through WhatsApp. “Our community has 50-odd members,” he says, “They’re all working in different places and studying in different colleges, though, so it’s difficult to meet often.” But the community is quite active, he insists, “We’re always sharing voice notes and discussing competitions, and we meet and jam whenever we can.”
Sindhu Ilango, though, is part of another WhatsApp community, and gets to jam with her peers more often. “We always meet in someone’s house or the other to practise,” says the teenager, who has already graduated to judging competitions. She adds, in all innocence, “Some of the people we jam with are quite old. Almost 30.”
