CHENNAI: He makes music with his vocal chords, but he is not a singer. Rather, he calls himself a performer who makes music. Meet Primitiv, the man who can reproduce catchy electronic beats and rhythms solely using his voice. This was exactly what he did at Corona Project, a show performed at the Leather Bar, The Park, recently. Such was his expertise, one couldn’t make out the difference between the electronically generated beats and the music that Primitiv created.
Primitiv agrees that what he does is quite unusual. “It is called beat boxing,” he declares. The Belgian fondly recalls his early experiments with his voice, “To get rid of my boredom, I started creating music with my mouth.”
Primitiv had a penchant for music right from his younger days, “I wanted to be a DJ when I turned 16, but I couldn’t afford turn tables. So, I found an alternative,” he jokes. Primitiv never recognised his talent until he met a professional beat boxer. He recalls, “I didn’t know I could be one among the best, until I actually saw a professional in action.”
After years of hard work and passion for this art, Primitiv won the national beat boxing championship in Belgium. “The first time I participated, I was placed fifth. I won it the next year,” says the beat boxing champion. The unforgettable moment, however, was when he was asked to perform in front of 20,000 people, as Snoop Dogg couldn’t make it to the venue on time. “They asked me to fill in and I definitely didn’t want to let go of the opportunity,” smiles this student of philosophy.
So, have any of the Indian musicians recognised him so far? “No, I have had a packed schedule,” says Primitiv. He is currently touring India along with several other artists for the Corona Project, a stunning musical show that aims to provide a unique audio visual experience at various destinations across India, the next one being Kolkata.