It was 8:15 and the crowd was growing restless. As a result of some technical difficulties, the show was off to a late start. Without notice, Adam Matta walked up to the mic and started beatboxing. Instantly, people’s heads started to bob and their feet started to tap. The murmur from the crowd escalated into whoops and mysterious war cries as Matta proceeded to call upon a variety of beatboxing styles, imitating drum rolls, trumpet calls and even a record spinning on a player.

The music and dance celebration put on by eight performers at Risley’s Great Hall last Saturday was the kind of live performance that encourages you to jump up and dance; the kind of performance you could scream anything that your larynx could create. Axis of Equals is Adam Matta’s latest brainchild, a festival of music and dance that integrates Middle Eastern and Jewish influences with urban beats. Throughout the night, Matta, Risley’s artist-in-residence, along with bands and artists including Pharaoh’s Daughter, Kassar, Haale, the Cornell Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Ensemble, Willow, Chandany, Teszia and Ryan Zawel, took turns captivating the audience with a mix of bellydancing, hypnotic Persian rock and groovy Jewish melodies.

Following Matta’s introduction, the first band on stage was Pharaoh’s Daughter, a six-person band from New York City, which sings in Hebrew, Yiddish and Arabic. Pharaoh’s Daughter played a handful of songs that combined traditional Middle Eastern melodies and urban and electronica influences into one spine tingling set. Equally impressive was the array of instruments that the band used, including the violin, drums and accordion, as well as traditional Middle-Eastern pieces, like the oud, zurna and ney.

There was rarely a down moment during Axis of Equals. While bands set up on stage, dancers controlled the floor. After Pharaoh’s Daughter wrapped up, a whirlwind of green swept into the Great Hall, instantly mesmerizing the audience. Willow, a bellydancer from Kingston, New York, proceeded to twist, spin and glide across the floor. A couple of acts later, Halee, a three-person band from New York City, came on. Halee’s songs, done in a mixture of English and Persian, were some of the most eerie and hypnotic that I have ever heard.

What seemed like a combination of Jimi Hendrix, the Doors and Ancient Persian overtones captivated much of the audience, who rose from the floor of Risley like zombies to jive to a type of music that almost no one had heard of before. This effect was what Matta had in mind from the get-go: people from any culture can respond to a type of music, but a collaboration of cultures within a song or a set of songs can open the eyes of any listener.

One of the final acts was a collaboration between the Cornell Middle Eastern, Meditteranean Ensemble and Matta. It was a treat to witness Matta use his beatboxing talents to provide percussion to the ensemble, which played an incredible set of songs. The musical teamwork didn’t end there: next Ryan Zawel and Matta blew our minds with a couple trumpet-beatbox collaborations, and Halee climbed back on stage to jam with Matta. That desire to collaborate and innovate is what made Axis of Equals unique.

First with Shakespeare and now with traditional Middle Eastern melodies, Adam Matta continues to apply his beatboxing talents and love of collaboration to unexpected areas of the musical world. His desire to create music that opens people’s eyes and ears result in some of the most interesting events on campus. Matta will be Risley’s artist-in-residence for another year. I advise you to go out and witness his next festival of music for yourself — you may never hear things the same again.