Issue 153

Block-rockin' beats

26th February 2007

Swansea's Sin City hosted the Beat-Box Wizard Killa Kela's seemingly annual appearance in Swansea, a night which included beat-boxing, break-dancing and both male and female live MC's.

Beat boxing originated in New York City and is simply the vocal percussion of hip-hop culture and music, composed of the reproduction of drum sounds using the voice, mouth and nose. Singing can also be involved, usually involving turn-table scratching and includes a vast array of sound effects. Some may recognise this unique sound from the recent Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles' advert which introduced many to this particular style of music.

The venue was well-suited to the various acts that attended the event, and was preferable to its previous host, DV8, due to its smaller size and it complimented the night's events.

At the start of the night, Cardiff break-dancers cleared the floor in an hour-long performance which was certainly a crowd-pleaser, followed by MC Ahmed free-styling with guests.

The front-man of the support band Spitkingdom sound system, MC Trip, soon appeared on stage as a hype-man for Killa Kela's impending performance. DJ Skeletrik mixed briefly over Trip's amusing, quick-witted words, before the main event got under way. Killa Kela was then introduced to the crowd while Trip pointed out that Pharrell Williams had dubbed this man as "the world's greatest beatboxer." For the next hour, his performance attempted to prove him worthy of that title.

Upon appearing on stage, Killa Kela, the "one man multi vocalist", removed his earpiece and demonstrated to the crowd that there were no other instruments or recordings involved in his performance, even removing the DJ from his decks to emphasize the point. Trip then reinforced this vital point further by ordering him to include each sound one-by-one. The snare, high hat and bass were introduced slowly and then sped up throughout the performance.

Crowd participation was an important part of the event, and while Killa Kela took a brief, wellearned break, MC Trip free-styled about objects that members of the crowd held in their hands, before performing a taster of his own single. The beat-boxing then started again, with popular songs by artists such as Beyonce and Pharrell Williams making a great impression on the spectators. Drum 'n' bass was also played at the end of the set to an energetic crowd.

On the first leg of the Reveal Your Inner Self Tour, which continues throughout London, Brighton and Cardiff, the main man and his complimentary collective, wowed the crowd with a performance of the released single Jawbreaker. It was a pleasant surprise to discover that Killa Kela was a strong vocalist with an impressive vocal range, although this was undoubtedly helped by his support from Spitkingdom's only female member, Rookwood. Their voices worked together well, most notably in the track You're All I Need to Get By - a song known well by the crowd.

Both Killa Kela's appearance and performance were as exciting as ever, with new material and benefiting greatly from the participation of those watching. The supporting acts were equally as impressive, particularly as Killa Kela himself is at times a support act to others. The tour continues with the beat-boxer supporting Super Furry Animals in Cardiff but it was great for Swansea to see a support act having a whole show dedicated to such a big talent as he proved himself to be that night.

Gemma Taylor