Who is Shlomo - Human Beatbox

Simon Shlomo Kahn (born c. 1984), better known by the name Shlomo, is a British human beatbox artist. He is known for pioneering original beatboxing techniques, and notably was heard by 3.9 billion people around the world when he and Björk performed "Oceania" at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympicshttp://en.beijing2008.cn/16/87/article211928716.shtml. He has also worked with artists such as Martha Wainwright, DJ Yoda, Mad Professor, Damon Albarn, Mr Scruff, Nitin Sawhney and UK hip hop crew Foreign Beggars. Shlomo is a classically-trained percussionist, a jazz drummer and heads the world's only human beatbox choir, the Vocal Orchestra.

Shlomo is of Israeli, Iraqi and German descent, and can speak Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic.The diversity of Foreign Beggars He grew up in the village of Bourne End in Buckinghamshire, and went to the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, before moving to Leeds, Yorkshire, at the age of 18 in 2002.

His original beatboxing techniques include his 2-mic trancebox routine, which won him widespread respect in the international beatbox community. He is one of the key people behind the global beatbox portal humanbeatbox.com.humanbeatbox.com.

In August 2004, Shlomo was invited by Icelandic singer Björk to beatbox on her all-vocal album Medúlla. The track, "Oceania", was commissioned by the Olympic Games Committee, and was performed at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Athens, making Shlomo the most-heard beatboxer in history (although most would not have realised that the drum sounds were vocal). The performance was also nominated for a Grammy.

Shlomo then went on to tour the UK, Europe and Canada with London hip hop act Foreign Beggars, before making a solo appearance on Later... with Jools Holland in late 2005.

In 2006, after an appearance on the Radio 1 Rap Show, hip hop DJ Tim Westwood named Shlomo the 'Harry Potter of beatbox'.

Shlomo has pushed the boundaries of beatboxing by using his vocal skills as a way to collaborate with a whole range of artists from different backgrounds. He created a beatboxing choir, and has his own collaborative concert series.

One notable performance was at one of the world's most prestigious concert venues the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. As a result of this concert he was invited to become an Artist in Residence at the South Bank Centre by the artistic director, Jude Kelly.

Shlomo has performed at many major festivals over the past few years, including the Montreux Jazz Festival, Glastonbury, Bestival, Womad, Latitude, Oxegen Ireland, The Big Chill (as a guest of Nightmares on Wax in 2006, in 2007 with his Vocal Orchestra and as a guest of the Mighty Boosh in 2008) and the Lovebox Weekender.

At Glastonbury 2007 Shlomo performed a live version of "A Message To You Rudy" accompanying Terry Hall and Lynval Golding from The Specials and Damon Albarn on piano. He also made a live TV appearance on BBC2.

In 2007 he put together the world's first beatboxing choir, called the Vocal Orchestra, to headline at the International Beatbox Convention. The Vocal Orchestra went on to perform at the Big Chill Festival and on the Park Stage at Glastonbury 2008, where Shlomo and the Vocal Orchestra performed a two-hour set with several guest appearances including Martha Wainwright, Martina Topley-Bird, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Reverend and the Makers, Portico Quartet, Lemn Sissay, Ed Harcourt, Pete Lockett and DJ Yoda.

In 2009, Shlomo worked with BBC Blast to promote beatboxing to young people. His guide to beatboxing can be viewed here

At the 2009 Latitude Festival he collaborated with Jarvis Cocker as part of the Cape Farewell presentation, where they performed a version of Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze.