The human beat-box is a form of vocal percussion that was rendered in the 1980s were music artists would use their mouths, lips, tongue and voice to imitate the sounds of drum beats, rhythm and other musical sounds.
Today, beat-boxing is associated with the genre of Hip-hop, though beat-boxing is not limited to only Hip-Hop music.
If you need an idea of what beat-boxing is, check out this video. It's the history of Hip-Hop in 4 short minutes. Pretty epic!
Eefing (sometimes spelled eeefin' or eephin', among numerous other variations) is an eccentric Southern tradition originating out of the Appalachian area of the US and more specifically the rural Tennessee area, in the late 1800s. Eefing is a vocal technique similar to beat-boxing, but eefing is over half a century older than beat-boxing.
Eefing sounds like a hiccupping, wheezing or asthma attack-like rhythmic vocal sound. The original eephers of the 1880s imitated hogs and turkeys living around their homesteads, if that gives you a better idea of what eefing sounds like.
Eefing is actually considered a music genre. Some time ago a man named, Sam Phillips from Memphis, recorded "Swamp Root" as his first single, in which he's eefing.
Though in 1963, Joe Perkins had a minor hit with "Little Eefin Annie" , featuring vocal skills of Jimmie Riddle. The song charted at #76, on Billboard charts.
Jimmie Riddle is considered the master of the eefing genre and he popularized the genre around 1969 in the CBS TV show, Hee Haw.
(Here's a link to an audio were Jimmie Riddle give the finer points of eefing.)
Here's a video of Hee Haw's Jimmie Riddle and Jackie Phelp's eefing and hambonin' act:
Also note that sometimes eefing is coupled with hambonin'. Hamboning is a series of rhythmic slaps and/or pats on the body to create music.
Video of Hambonin'
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