On 17 October, the finals of the international beatbox championship Beatland World Beatbox Battle 2026 will take place at the Block 42 venue in Nuanu Creative City.
Eight artists from different countries will take the stage, the judges are world title holders, and the evening's special guest is the American hip-hop group ONYX.
Beatboxing is music made with nothing but the voice: beat, bass, melody and effects. Competitors face off in two categories. In SOLO, two beatboxers go head to head, and the judges decide who advances. In LOOPSTATION, artists build a track live on a loop station, recording sound layer by layer right there on stage.
Qualifying has been under way since the summer: the organizers received around 160 applications from five continents, and 48 participants from 26 countries made it through to the online battles on 14 and 15 September.
The top four in each category are flying to Bali. In SOLO, they are REMIX (South Africa), OSIS (Ireland), ACAR (Turkey) and FABLEY (Morocco); in LOOPSTATION, DUNCAN (Hong Kong), BIZKIT and MACE (both from the USA) and LILL-FILL (Finland). The prize pool is $20,000.
The judges are DHARNI (Singapore), SKILLER (Bulgaria), VAHTANG (Russia), RIVER (France), MAD TWINZ (Russia), ZHANG ZE (China), SYJO (Germany) and MARTIN BENATI (France). The host is Canadian SCOTT JACKSON. Showcases will be performed by Americans JEFF TURNER and SUAVE-SKI, French artist ROBIN and the Indonesian crew INDOBEATBOX.
ONYX is a group from Queens, New York, known for its 1993 album Bacdafucup and the track Slam. Two of its founders, Fredro Starr and Sticky Fingaz, are coming to Bali.
This is the second Beatland. The first battle took place in November 2023, also at Nuanu, and its finalists were placed in this year's bracket without having to go through video qualifying. The organizers are the beatbox duo Mad Twinz, world vice-champions, and their Bali-based company Beatland Universe.
Doors open at 13:30. At 14:15, the SEVEN TO SMOKE battle begins: the winner stays on stage and the next challenger steps up to face them. Showcases run through the afternoon, the SOLO semifinals start at 16:44 and the LOOPSTATION semifinals at 18:32.
The SOLO final is scheduled for 20:47 and the LOOPSTATION final for 21:04, followed by the awards ceremony. ONYX take the stage at 21:45, and after their set the After Party with BLEU CLAIR and DJ YASMIN begins, running until two in the morning.
General Admission costs 250,000 rupiah and Fan Zone 300,000; with the After Party included, they cost 350,000 and 400,000 respectively. VIP is 900,000. Tickets are on sale on the festival website.
Block 42 is on the west coast, not far from Tanah Lot. The organizers say they will arrange transfers from Canggu and Pererenan; times and pickup points will be published on the festival website.
From 14 to 16 October, Bali's beatbox community will be warming up the crowd in the evenings on Batu Bolong and Pererenan beaches.
You can add one right now!