Tuesday Afternoon Diversion: A Beatboxer... In 1938

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 28, 2012 9:00PM

When you think about it, beatboxing has its roots in vocalese, the jazz style where instrumental melody lines are written for voice with lyrics. Chicago's own Kurt Elling is regarded as a modern master of the style. Vocalese itself evolved from the vocal mimicry of instruments.

Here's a clip from a British Pathe newsreel, The Radio Revellers, of a song called "There's A Tavern In The Town." Here, one of the singers uses his voice to mimic a double bass, a rough foreshadowing of beatboxing a half century before the first generation of rappers popularized it.

You can watch the entire newsreel here.