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Chirp, squeak, hiss, gurgle, plop: Beatboxers like to think there is no sound a professional performer cannot reproduce.

The art of beatboxing had its origins in the hip-hop of the 1980s but has recently started coming into its own as the fifth element of hip-hop, alongside MC-ing, DJ-ing, breakdancing and graffiti. Beatboxing primarily focuses on the art of producing drum beats, rhythm and musical sounds using only the mouth, lips, tongue and voice.

While the beatbox movement had its origins in the United States and has since become popular in Europe, this form of vocal percussion is still yet to fully infiltrate our borders.

The Indonesian Beatboxing Community aims to change this. What started off as a group on social networking site Friendster has now turned into a fast-growing community with about 3,000 members throughout the country.

Willem Carolus Christopherson Tamnge, or Billy, as he is usually called by his friends, is one of the community’s founders.

“At the beginning, we had around 60 members,” the 28-year-old said. “But it was only an online group. When German beatbox champion Mando came last year in October to introduce his film about beatboxing during the Europe on Screen film festival, we took it as an opportunity to officially found the Indonesian Beatboxing Community.”

That event last year was also the host of the first beatbox battle to be performed in Indonesia.

During a beatbox battle, participants perform on stage, competing against each other. Each beatboxer gets two one-minute segments to show what he or she can do. The person who receives the loudest cheering wins the battle and moves on to the next round.

“After getting a positive response from the media, we were asked to perform during some events, including festivals and other cultural events, and sometimes even on TV,” Billy said.

There are also several rappers in the community, so during performances they also sing or rap, instead of just providing a beat.

Members of the Indonesian Beatboxing Community meet every Wednesday at Taman Menteng in Central Jakarta. The unconventional gatherings give members a chance to catch up and practice their vocal skills, but are mostly opportunities to hang out with their friends.

“At the beginning, there were only five, six people who would come to the gatherings,” Billy said.

The number attending most meetings has since grown to around 20 people.

“Sometimes, some of our members bring along their friends, who were initially not really interested in doing beatboxing,” Billy said.

“But then they give it a try, and some of them are now even better than the friends who brought them along in the first place.”

Billy, originally from Papua, first heard about beatboxing in 2005 and started to learn it the following year. As one of the pioneers of beatboxing in Indonesia, he had nobody to teach him the techniques.

“Mostly, I learned how to beatbox from watching YouTube videos,” he said.

He now shares his skills with other community members.

Ricardo, 25, joined the community in February.

“I think beatboxing is unique, it’s like a human orchestra,” he said, adding that beatboxers can simulate almost every instrument just by using their mouths.

“It took me around nine months to learn it,” Ricardo said. “My friends in the community taught me how to do it, and there are also some video tutorials you can watch.”

Rando, 17, has been a member of the community for a month and still considers himself a rookie. Explaining basic beatboxing techniques, he said that, in the beginning, you learn how to say the letters B, T and K without using any vocals.

“It is harder than it may sound now,” he said. “But once you know how to do it, it is easier to learn the more advanced techniques.”

By launching the movement as an official community, the members are hoping to develop a hip-hop and beatbox culture in Indonesia, as in other countries.

“So far, we have been pretty much on our own,” Billy said. “But just a couple of days ago, we were approached by one of the hip-hop communities. They asked us to have joint performances with them for several upcoming events. I think that is a very good start for us to introduce beatboxing to the Indonesian people.”

In the long run, he added, he hoped that Indonesia would someday participate in beatboxing world championships.

Indonesian Beatboxing Community
www.indobeatbox.com
indobeatbox@yahoo.com
Tel. 0815 988 0114 (Sarah)