Another successful weekend for the 6th Florida Beatbox Festival this past weekend.
The Beatbox discipline has definitely become something that speaks to everyone. Loud speakers, two crazy evenings for the artists and the public. Several nationalities, whether spectators or Beatboxers, converged in Agen to celebrate the event.
Friday and Saturday evenings, the Florida confirmed its status as the French Beatbox capital, with an ever more successful edition. Hosted by our Agenais Beatboxer Tioneb and his sidekick Furax, the two evenings brought together all generations. The genre has become unifying and has come a long way since its birth in the Bronx ghetto in New York.
Harpists in the know
Two evenings in front of an audience from all over France, and even from all continents. The first surprise arrived on Friday. French Beatboxers had the mission to improvise on music launched by a mystery orchestra. The nature of this orchestra remained secret until the last moment. The beatboxers confronted the harpists of the Harpinbag association… and only discovered it on Friday! A great first, born of a desire to combine styles. The students and their teacher Aude Forctict renamed themselves the H²Gang for the occasion. All have put their talent at the service of an art that one would not necessarily associate with the harp… And surprise, it works very well. The two do not mismatch, succeeding in a surprising alliance between a classical instrument and a contemporary musical genre.
Just before them, the Franco-Colombian duo Rogue Wave delivered a virtuoso show. Composed of River and Colaps, current world champion and vice-champion, they inaugurated a festival that promised to send wood. Accomplices on stage, these are two talents capable of going very far in improvisation. They were also in charge of being part of the jury on Saturday evening, alongside big names like the Welshman Graycloud.
Animation by Furax
We moved on to (even more) serious things the next day. Eight beatboxers competed once morest a jury made up of the cream of the genre. Furax warned us from the start: “Tonight, I’m going to lose my voice, I know it!”. Inevitable, when you have to assume the role of host in a charged atmosphere. On the side of the beatboxers, fortunately, no one has lost it. The Beatbox may be considered above all as a series of rhythms created with the mouth, bursts of voice fly away at the microphone.
Seeing all these nationalities having fun in Agen is something you never tire of seeing. People came from all over the world to cheer two Canadians, two Malaysians, two Americans, a Tunisian and a Frenchman. On the faces of the artists, an obvious admiration when a competitor passes. Good-natured atmosphere and (almost) friendly competition. It was finally the Frenchman PACMax who seduced the jury and emerged victorious.
Varied rhythms, beat, big sound and fervor, the Florida Beatbox Festival is an essential episode of the cultural season in Agen. See you for the seventh edition next year!
