Adam Matta is a human beatboxer and vocal performance artist from New York City. His style fuses elements of hip-hop, rock electronic, jazz, contemporary and Middle Eastern music, sometimes all in the same composition.
He has had solo shows at Joe's Pub, the New Museum for Contemporary Art, Galapagos, PS 122, La Mama and Here Arts Center. He has performed at Carnegie Hall with Bobby McFerrin and collaborated with numerous artists in New York, appearing at venues as diverse as Madison Square Garden, Apollo Theater, Town Hall, Blender Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center and The Stone.
His music has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition, Weekend Edition and All Things Considered, in Benson Lee's documentary "Planet B-Boy" and in "The L Word." He was featured as "Boxman" in "In Transit," an a cappella musical developed at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Festival in 2008. He was featured in "Beatbox Bard," a 2007 play directed by Bruce Levitt at Cornell University mixing beatboxing and Shakespeare. He has appeared on Damon Wayans' The Underground, CUNY-TV's Art or Something Like It, WNYE's Afterschool and in Storycorps/Soundportraits, improvising with Arabic music. In 2009, he will appear on PBS's The Electric Company.
He has been an Artist in Residence at Cornell University, Here Arts Center, Gertrude Stein Repertory Theater's Digital Performance Institute and LEMUR (League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots). With LEMUR, a mic was connected to a fleet of robotic instruments, through a digital interface, and an interactive demonstration was performed in Brooklyn and at Trondheim Matchmaking, in Norway. He collaborates with numerous artists, including tabla master and producer Karsh Kale, circus composer Sxip Shirey, avante-garde guitarist Eyal Maoz, poet/playwright Reg E Gaines, cellist Noah Hoffeld, new music composer Bora Yoon and multi-instrumentalist Michael Leonhart of Steely Dan.
