There are various art forms that are collectively looked down upon in one form or another in the Arab World. Some are considered unfaithful to cultural norms at best, while others are viewed as downright socially unacceptable
Beatboxing, an especially rare form in the region, is certainly no exception. In Jordan, however, the art of creating music beats through vocal percussion has been witnessing an awakening.
The man behind this awakening is Abood Al-Adham, a self-taught Jordanian beatboxer who in 2014 founded the first-ever beatboxing battle competition in Jordan, "The King of the Beat."
Al-Adham, who created the competition to establish a space to connect Jordan's beatboxers, has been actively working on promoting beatboxing in Amman and uniting its performers.
Over the past three years, he has provided studio spaces for beatboxers to practice and exchange skills, organized beatboxing workshops and stage performances for new beatboxers and campaigned for the art form in local media.
The King of the Beat succeeded in bringing together an active but previously unheard beatboxing community in Amman and in becoming a popular event in the city's arts scene.
Despite the success however, the competition was not exempt from the main challenge that faces grassroots initiatives by young people trying to introduce new ideas in their societies: Lack of funding.
In an effort to change this ahead of 2016's The King of the Beat, Al-Adham started a crowdfunding campaign to not only make this year's competition bigger and better, but allow it to fairly reward performers.
"Too many events, festivals and activities in Jordan expect grassroots artists to perform and work for very little money to no pay at all, while they pay astonishing amounts of money to import artists from outside," Al-Adham said in his Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign message, adding that he aimed to run a "competition where local talent is paid for their art."
While hip hop music in general is culturally undervalued in Arab society, Al-Adham says that the situation for beatboxers in Jordan is "far worse," as venues often purposefully exclude it from their shows and events.
That's why in addition to nurturing and supporting local talent, The King of the Beat is aiming for a more challenging goal, to change the perception of beatboxing in Jordanian society.
A society which Al-Adham says doesn't recognize its value, viewing it as "something shameful, not an art form."
Through the competition's efforts to engage and empower Jordan's beatboxers and thus actively establishing a beatboxing scene, The King of the Beat hopes to move one step forward in changing the perception of art in Jordan.