in the groove:with Fred Zindi
Over the years, I have followed Zimbabwean beat-boxing artistes such as Raheem, Daniel “Probeats” Mashonganyika, Union 5, Subzero and Dean “Dinvidz” Guhlanga who have all acted as opening acts for major artistes and I have enjoyed every moment of their acts. Not many people have heard of these artistes because none of them have produced beat-box hits that are recognised throughout Zimbabwe. They do not get a lot of publicity either.
However, not long ago, one of the above-mentioned beat-boxers was on radio doing his thing at the invitation of the DJ there. He was obviously beat-boxing through the mic and I am sure he left a bit of gob on the microphone. This is today’s topic. In this day and age of coronavirus, aka Covid-19, leaving one’s spit on the microphone is cause for concern.
I have noticed that even though beat-boxing brings a lot of excitement to its audiences, the artistes, due to the use of their mouths and tongue to create the sounds they produce, do a lot of spitting in their acts. They leave a lot of slimy spits on the microphones they use in their acts. Let us suppose that the artistes are infected with coronavirus, would the drops of the bug coming from their spitting not infect their audiences? If so, that would result in adding fuel to the already infectious fire.
This is when one begins to ask if beat-boxing is safe in this era of coronavirus. It might sound frivolous to ask such a question but in this environment, it becomes a very important one if we are to save lives. Beat-boxing is one area in which the government will not take notice or try to understand what it is all about. Consequently, they will not even try to ban it. This area takes the eye of a musician to know what is taking place on the stage.
In case you do not know what I am talking about, let me explain to you what beat-boxing is all about.
The term “beat-boxing” came from America. It is derived from the mimicry of early drum machines, then known as beat-boxes, particularly those made from Roland keyboards. The term “beat-box” was used to refer to earlier Roland drum machines in the 1970s. They then became central to hip-hop music, rap music and electronic dance music in the 1980s. It is the Roland TR-808 sound found on the keyboards that human beat-boxing is largely modelled after.
Young Zimbabwean artistes who were watching American hip-hop videos in the late 1980s soon caught on to this beat-box craze in the 1990s and started the hip-hop beat-box movement in Zimbabwe. Although none of them has ever made a hit song through beat-boxing, they are still trying to make the charts by simply making use of their mouths, lips, tongue, and voice in making music.
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Hip-hop classic artistes by the names Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh (the self-proclaimed first “human beat-box”) topped the charts in the United States of America in the 1980s. What is phenomenal about their track was that Doug E Fresh was beat-boxing whilst Slick Rick was rapping and bingo, the Americans loved it. Their song made the Billboard Charts.
They inspired an entirely new generation and fan base of human beat-boxers. Other pioneers of beat-boxing include Rahzel, well-known for his realistic robotic sounds and for his ability to sing and beat-box simultaneously. Scratch is another beat-boxer and musician well known for further revolutionising the use of vocal scratching in beat-boxing, and Kenny Muhammad The Human Orchestra, a beat-boxer known for his technicality and outstanding rhythmic precision, pioneered the inward k snare, a beat-box technique that imitates a snare drum by breathing inwards.
Each beat-boxer can produce a very large number of unique sounds, but there are three distinct linguistic categories of sound within beat-boxing. Ejectives are the strong puffs of air from the voicebox that give intensity to percussive sounds. The “t”, “p”, “k”, “d”, “b” and “g” sounds can all be made into ejectives.
“Ch” and “j” are examples of ejective affricates. It is through these ejectives that saliva or spit can also be expelled from the mouth of a beat-boxer into the audience and all hell breaks loose.
One other area where coronavirus can be spread is through failing to keep a safe distance from infected people. Most music groups I have observed have backing vocalists who use one microphone to do harmonies. This is a dangerous situation as the singers spit into the microphone. Should one of them be infected with the virus and starts coughing into the microphone, then the rest of the singers will also be infected. It is recommended that backing vocalists should use separate microphones and stand at least one metre apart while on stage.
Although America gets credit for having started beat-boxing, music researchers have established that beat-boxing started in Africa. Forms of African traditional music in which performers use their bodies by clapping and stomping as percussion instruments and produce sounds with their mouths by breathing loudly in and out, is a technique used in beat-boxing today.
Sometimes, modern beat-boxers will use their hand or another part of their body to extend the spectrum of sound effects and rhythm. Some have developed a technique that involves blowing and sucking air around their fingers to produce a very realistic record scratching noise, which is commonly known as the “crab scratch”. Another hand technique includes the “throat tap”, which involves beat-boxers tapping their fingers against their throats as they throat-sing or hum.
Beat boxers these days can produce up to eight different sounds at the same time. However, the touching of one’s face or throat in the process is discouraged as one’s hands might be contaminated by the virus. In this coronavirus era, people are encouraged to regularly wash their hands with soap for at least 20 seconds or use a greater than 60% alcohol-based hand sanitiser and not to touch their faces. In beat-boxing, the touching of one’s mouth is a common phenomenon of the act.
Beat-boxing is also at odds with the recommendations made by both the World Health Organisation and the government of Zimbabwe who have put in place a number of protective measures against catching the virus. In order to slow down the spread of the disease, the government is discouraging people from attending functions which have large gatherings of more than 100 people. These places include churches, restaurants, pubs, nightclubs and concerts. President Emmerson Mnangagwa in his address to the nation, recently announced the postponement of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair and the Independence celebrations on April 18. Musicians, who usually perform at these occasions, will, no doubt, be hard hit by such pronouncements as no income will be coming their way. Beat-boxers will be the hardest hit as they do not pull a lot of crowds under normal circumstances. However, the government, despite testing 14 suspected cases of coronavirus who all turned out to be negative, believes that Covid-19 has not yet reached this country.
According to government media statements, Covid-19 is still affecting mostly people in China, Europe and America. In a statement, the Ministry of Health also said: “… There are no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Zimbabwe.”
If there is no coronavirus in Zimbabwe when there are outbreaks in other countries, the beat-boxers have nothing to worry about. But why do I even bother to write about it here? I will explain:
Many artistes have died in the past from diseases such as HIV and Aids, cholera and typhoid. So this article should serve as a warning because we don’t want any more to die from preventable diseases. Forewarned is forearmed.
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