The KO Hip Hop Cello-Beatbox Experience

April 18, 2011 3:14 PM

Cellist Kevin Olusola incorporated beatboxing into a piece called Julie-O.

Kevin's bio in the first link makes me feel completely inadequate.

posted by gman (16 comments total)

Hmm. I know better cellists and have heard better beatboxers. I suppose the combination is somewhat unusual though.
posted by cbrody at 3:38 PM on April 18, 2011

I was preparing some snark about surprise at the incorporation of otherwise established musical elements into a stereotypically stodgy medium, but then he started beatboxing while I was enjoying his nice cello piece.
posted by cmoj at 3:40 PM on April 18, 2011

And in related cellist news: Yo-Yo Ma and Lil Buck Perform "The Swan"‎ (filmed by director Spike Jonze).
posted by ericb at 3:52 PM on April 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

I have to say this is not only a great performance of of Mark Summer's Julie-O, but it's an outstanding demonstration of musicianship and musicality. It was a joy to watch.
posted by zooropa at 4:09 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is great, thank you for posting gman.
posted by jonnyploy at 4:11 PM on April 18, 2011

As a lover of both traditional music and beatboxing, this was a lot better than I expected it to be. Olusola did a great job combining the two and his performance was a pleasure to watch, too.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 4:28 PM on April 18, 2011

I'm assuming the "knocking" sound is coming from him? But I can't tell how he's achieving it.
posted by bitdamaged at 4:42 PM on April 18, 2011

Hmm. I know better cellists and have heard better beatboxers. I suppose the combination is somewhat unusual though.

Perhaps you could point to some videos of better cellists and/or beatboxers, or at least give us some critique on what you disliked, instead of just shitting in the thread? I thought it was a beautiful, engaging, moving piece and I think he's an excellent cellist. Clearly I don't have the experience in judging cellists that you do.
posted by starvingartist at 5:29 PM on April 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

@starvingartist: I think KO's very talented, but not at the level of many professional cellists attempting to eke out a living playing far greater music than this particular video shows. That said I enjoyed it for what it was.
posted by cbrody at 6:15 PM on April 18, 2011

I am super impressed - I can barely play vocals and guitar in Rock Band at the same time. Thanks a lot for sharing.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 6:28 PM on April 18, 2011

So more or less, cbrody, your comments can be boiled down to "some people play cello better than he does."

Thanks for that input.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 6:49 PM on April 18, 2011

It sounds like an NPR interstitial.
posted by rhizome at 7:12 PM on April 18, 2011

@cbrody and others – I think there's something to be said for people who bend the genre of cello playing for new and diverse audiences.
While I agree that there are some classical cellists that are indeed better than this player, I dare say that his combination of cello and beatboxing virtuosity is preferable than many other pieces I have heard and seen played, even if said pieces are indeed performed at a higher technical level.

He really brings out the soul and rhythm of the piece, and I do love his playing. Or maybe it's just that I'm having a horrible day and his playing really warmed my heart.

Thanks gman!
posted by kurosawa's pal at 8:15 PM on April 18, 2011

True story- today, I went to my two music lessons: beatboxing class, and my cello lesson. I basically want to grow up to be this guy. I'm going to start practicing both a whole lot harder.

Thanks for sharing!
posted by aint broke at 9:33 PM on April 18, 2011

Great coordination.

Like the musical version of rubbing tummy while patting head.

I'd love to be able to "brain scan*" this guy compared to someone who's good at viola trying to beatbox compared to someone who's good at beatboxing trying to play the viola.

*fMRI isn't possible; the metal in the viola strings + constrained environment in an MRI machine. EEG/EKG is too imprecise. I wonder if TMS experiments could be done; turn off different areas thought to be associated with language vs. music and see if he can still do his thang? Don't know if partial brocca's inactivation is possible (dual-language speakers use light up slightly spatially different parts of Brocca's and Wernicke's depending on which language they're working with. Also depends on which one is learned first).
posted by porpoise at 9:49 PM on April 18, 2011

Nice! Thanks, gman.
posted by homunculus at 3:19 PM on April 22, 2011