adam matta

Bio:

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"Man, I can feel the 808 coming from your f@!!n chest!!!"--Henry Rollins

"Like a John Coltrane solo, Adam's Beat Boxing creates narratives which mere words could never accomplish."--Reg E Gaines, playwright, Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk

"...a treat..." New York Times

"...beatbox maestro..." Wired Magazine

"...virtuoso..." Flavorpill

"....brilliant...like sonic abstract expressionism..." Ithaca Times

"...clever..." The Star Tribune

"...highlights of the evening [include] choreographer Tami Stronach's imaginative "Melt Away" set to "Money, Money" from the film version of Cabaret, brilliantly rendered by beatboxer Adam Matta..." Backstage

"......his ability to remix his own voice is remarkable, at first singing over a synced beat and then slowing it down, speeding it up, dubbing, scratching, even using the layrngeal equivalent of a wah-wah pedal. He's wonderful to watch in these moments, right hand on the mic, left hand flailing in time, drops of spit and sweat flying off him. He must get terribly dehydrated...." Village Voice

"...Matta is the soul of ['Beatbox Bard'], and because his mic covers his face throughout, we only see his impassive almond eyes and his quiet, rhythmic physical presence — until the curtain call, when the mic drops and the person behind the performer breaks through. With throat, tongue, voice and breath he creates not just beatbox rhythms (an urban tradition already a quarter-century old), underscoring or counterpointing the play's action, but an entire soundscape..." Ithaca Journal

"...incredible..." Art or Something Like It, CUNY TV

"His beats are unsurpassable, but what really makes this guy wail is the mind inside the body heretic."-- Lynn Book, professor, Sarah Lawrence College

mapcidy recommendation

Adam Matta, is a beatboxer and vocal performance artist influenced by artists such as Rahzel, Mike Patton and Meredith Monk. With an arsenal of vocal instrumentals including brass, beats, vocal scratches/turntablism, mechanical and other sound effects, Matta performs hip hop, rock, drum-and-bass, jazz, and Middle Eastern, sometimes all in the same composition.

He is a 2007-09 Artist in Residence at Cornell University’s Risley Hall, beatboxing for dance classes, and creating a regularly-occurring music series, called “Cat and Mouth,” where he invites musicians-- such as Hank Roberts, Julianne Carney and Sparlha Swa-- to improvise with him and involve students who wish to participate. He organized a 2008 concert at Cornell, entitled, “Axis of Equals,” which showcased Middle Eastern and Jewish music with an “urban edge;” at the concert, he shared the stage with Pharaoh’s Daughter, Haale and members of the Cornell Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Music Ensemble and Klezmer Ensemble. In December 2007, he appeared with the Cornell Chamber Orchestra, performing a piece composed specifically for him and the string section by Duke University Masters’ Candidate, Paul Leary.

In 2008, Matta performed at Carnegie Hall with Bobby McFerrin and 19 other young, up and coming vocalists from around the world, in "Improvised Opera," based on the story of the Tower of Babel. Earlier that year, he performed a solo show, “Beatbox Drift,” at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, in New York, showing how living in an urban environment informed his vocal expression and rhythms. He created a one-man show entitled, "Makeshift," as an Artist in Residence at Here Arts Center in 2006-07.

Matta collaborated with LEMUR (League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots) with interactive music technology and robotics demonstrations in Brooklyn and Trondheim, Norway. He was an invitee at "Mixing Texts" at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a workshop intensive mixing hip hop theater and Shakespeare. He was featured in staged readings of "In Transit," an a cappella musical developed at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Festival in Summer 2008. He was the feature performer in “Beatbox Bard,” Bruce Levitt’s play mixing beatboxing and Shakespeare, produced at Cornell University in 2007.

His music has been aired on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Weekend Edition. A vocal collaboration between Matta and his father, Seoud, was recorded for Storycorps/Soundportraits and featured on their mobile recording studio at Grand Central Station, NYC. Matta's beaboxing scored scenes in "The L Word: Season II," released on Tommy Boy Records, and in Benson Lee’s 2007 documentary, “Planet B-Boy.” He was featured in Stride Gum’s online promotional site, "Battle of the Factory Bands," and at Heavy.com’s "Circus of Awesome" events in Florida and Los Angeles. He appeared on Damon Wayan’s, “The Underground,” on Showtime, on CUNY-TV's "Art or Something Like It," and on WNYE’s “Afterschool.” He was the voice of the "Mother" in Michael Long's 2006 video short, "Beatbox Family," produced for MTV Asia.

He performed with Bora Yoon at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and John Zorn’s downtown space, The Stone; with Shara Worden and My Brightest Diamond at Town Hall and Blender Theater; with United Way's Literacy Arts Initiative, 9th Annual Student Showcase at the World Famous Apollo Theater, Produced by Plays For Living; and with Beatboxer Entertainment at Madison Square Garden. His musical sensibility was informed by his experience appearing as an extra in Meredith Monk’s 2002 production, “mercy,” and in Shirin Neshat’s “Logic of the Birds.”

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Contact: Adam Matta www.adammatta.com

Member Since:

January 02, 2006

Members:

just myself, but you'll often find me collaborating on stage w/ other musicians. See www.beatboxing.com for an interview and more info.

Influences:

Rahzel, Mike Patton, Doug E Fresh, Kenny Muhammad, Michael Winslow, Meredith Monk, Bobby McFerrin, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Coltrane, Hendrix, John Bonham

Sounds Like:

a drum kit, but different.

AMX

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