Are these two Israelis the world’s next big beatbox stars?

Maxim Mirel and Ori Abada will be Israel’s second-ever participants in the world’s most prestigious beatbox battle

The beatbox team Middle School of Belgium wins the Tag Team category at the 2021 Grand Beatbox Battle. Photo by Tani Levitt

By Tani Levitt February 24, 2023

Two Israeli beatboxers will grace the stage of the biggest beatbox event in the world: the Grand Beatbox Battle, an annual music festival and world championship competition that will take place this October in Tokyo.

Maxim Mirel and Ori Abada, who perform as a duo under the stage name Max and H1ppy, won entry into the Tag Team category of the competition, in which teams engage in two-on-two battles. In the past decade, the beatbox scene has grown to an international community of millions, and the GBB is widely considered its most prestigious event.

Mirel, who had a breakout solo performance as part of the 2021 GBB, and Abada are at the forefront of a golden generation of beatboxers in Israel — a generation that first started gaining attention in late 2020, when the pair battled against each other for the title of Israeli Beatbox Champion. (Mirel eventually took home the crown.)

The two won a spot in the GBB lineup with a trap routine titled “No More,” a bass-driven attack on the ears punctuated by a series of intricate tongue clicks.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Swissbeatbox (@swissbeatbox)

As GBB participants, Max and H1ppy will perform in front of a live crowd of thousands — the estimated attendance at the 2021 GBB was over 3,000 — as well as an avid community of online fans. Video of Mirel’s performance from the 2021 GBB has over 400,000 views. A successful run at the GBB Championship is the type of accolade that can propel a beatboxer to be able to make a living off of their art, and the pressure is on.

Tani Levitt is an editorial intern at the Forward. He likes baseball, beatboxing and breathing — roughly in that order. You can contact him at [email protected] and find his work on Twitter @HateItOrLevitt.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO