iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

[GGW]

Hi there

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It could also be said that they are more trad than most people on here especially Ash as he is from the top end as they are both indigiounus rather than myself for example who has only been to Oz for a 2 week holiday to Adelaide and Sydney

What do you mean ? They are more trad in their playing style than anybody here ? most of the player i know here sound more traditional to me than Dargan and Hudson ,but its just my hear

GGW

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Beleive in yirdaki power

[stockie]

Quote:

What do you mean ? They are more trad in their playing style than anybody here ? most of the player i know here sound more traditional to me than Dargan and Hudson ,but its just my hear

Hi GGW not in there playing styles just there origins ie being indigiounus to Oz and me being western european there more trad than me

[GGW]

Hi there

Ahhh now i understand thank you

dup pu dup
GGW

_________________
Beleive in yirdaki power

[pacdidj]

ididjaustralia wrote:

Phil (pacdidj), you there? I'd be interested in hearing your views about this as you would no doubt have a broad view about such things when it comes to music. The whole continuity and change thing when it comes to traditions and how cultures cannot be defined simply by what happened in the past. Guan

Sure I'll throw in my 2 cents. I think we can broadly speak of the music of Aboriginal artists like David Hudson, Ash Dargan, and lets throw in William Barton just for fun, as being alternately involved with cultural revival and cultural renewal projects, and in all three cases we might describe such musics, or at least some of the output of each of these artists, as neo-traditional.
I would hesitate before saying unequivocally that, because none of these artists play didjeridu in a way that resembles Aboriginal styles from Arnhem Land or the Kimberleys, their music is therefore wholly untraditional. Each of these artists describes their didjeridu styles as based on something inherited. Ash was taught by his great uncle, a descendant of the Larrakia people, William by his uncle, a man with connections to the Wannyi, Lardil and Kalkadunga peoples of Cape York, and David by his mother's Guguyalangi people of southern Cape York, as well as by Lardil tribesmen from farther up the cape. Just because didjeridu playing may be a more recent phenomenon in north Queensland, according to archaeologists (though not necessarily according to the creation histories of Queenslander Aboriginal peoples), than it is in the Top End of the NT and WA, does not mean that it is not now trans-generational, and a significant part of local cultural lives. Likewise, in Ash's case, even though his playing style is not sonicly all that similar to historical styles from the Darwin area, does not mean that it does not represent some sort of continuity with Larrakia beliefs and practices. What I'm saying here is that we should remember that traditions are simply things that happen with some regularity more than a few times, they do not necessarily have to be very old. We can speak of Rock and Roll, Baroque music, and even contemporary electronica as musical traditions. Musics that have trans-generational continuity are by definition traditional.
On the other hand, obviously what these artists do is not the same thing as what mago and yidaki playing countrymen from Arnhem Land do, and I have a good deal of intellectual respect these three artists, as in the short conversations I have had with each of them, they have all made it clear to me that they don't see what they do as being of the same order as traditional ceremonial playing of the Top End. They do however see some commonalities, which brings us to cultural revitalization and renewal.
David Hudson's work with Tjapukai is a great example of a cultural revitalization movement. Cultural revitalization movements are about reviving interest in traditions and practices that have fallen into disuse, and filling in gaps and updating those tradtions and practices with new elements. It should be noted that many Queensland Aboriginal peoples experienced a greater degree of disturbance, displacement, and open hostility during the days of assimilationist policy than did the peoples of say central and northeast Arnhem Land. When the Tjapukai Dance Theatre started in the 1980s, many local traditions had fallen out of daily use.

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More than that, it (The Dance Theatre) has brought the Tjapukai culture into the homes of the Tjapukai speaking people for the first time in five generations. When Tjapukai began a dozen years ago, only a few elders were found to speak the ancient language. Today the cultural revival spurred by the theatre has regenerated the tongue and Tjapukai is now taught in local primary schools.

At its inception the group enlisted the help of archivists and past documentarians of the region to reconstruct parts of local ceremonial life that had fallen out practice. Didjeridu features prominently in this reconstructed form of Tjapukai ceremony, and is part of the traditional life that Tjapukai people present to visitors as part of their cultural tourism venture.
In the recorded works of Ash Dargan, David Hudson, and William Barton, particularly those that combine didjeridu with electronic dance music, or symphony orchestra, we might read a move toward cultural renewal. We can conceive of cultural renewal movements as attempts to fuse local and indigenous beliefs, values, practices and ontologies, with new expressive media, as well as forms of expression that are seen to be new or 'modern.' All three of these artists cite the didjeridu as a way to connect with their own personal spirituality, and the stories and values of their peoples. Thus, in some capacity, their music represents a connection of these spiritual and evaluative ontologies to new music making technologies, and their experiences of everyday cosmopolitan Australian life. Interestingly, this same process can be seen in Arnhem Land guitar band musics. Aaron Corn has written several interesting pieces connecting the musical output of bands like Broken English and Soft Sands to long held Ngukurr and Yolngu ontologies, values and story traditions.
Thus, I suppose I would argue, that there does not always have to sonic continuity for a music to be called traditional, or to be seen as referencing tradition. I suppose further we should be cautious about our use of the word 'trad' as a sort of geographic-exclusionary short hand for a set of didjeridu styles. Simply because something may be relatively recent does not make it unimportant, and it may be hurtful to people engaged in the serious work of cultural revitalization or renewal to disparage their efforts as non-traditional.

Futher Reading:

Tjapukai History

William Barton Bio

Ash Dargan Bio

David Hudson interview in Neunfeldt's The Didjeridu: From Arnhem Land to Internet

Aaron Corn. 1999. Dreamtime Wisdom, Modern Time Vision: The Aboriginal Acculturation of Popular Music in Arnhem Land, Australia. North Australia Research Unit of the ANU, discussion paper no. 13.

Corn. 2002. Nurturing the Sacred Through Yolngu Popular Song, in Cultural Survival Quarterly 26(2).

[ididjaustralia]

pacdidj wrote:

Sure I'll throw in my 2 cents. I think we can broadly speak of the music of Aboriginal artists like David Hudson, Ash Dargan, and lets throw in William Barton just for fun, as being alternately involved with cultural revival and cultural renewal projects, and in all three cases we might describe such musics, or at least some of the output of each of these artists, as neo-traditional. [...]

Thanks Phil, I knew it would be a worthwhile question to pose to you. But this ain't 2 cents, it is more like a thousand bucks!! Nice summing up of the situation though and I would probably agree with most of it.

pacdidj wrote:

Simply because something may be relatively recent does not make it unimportant, and it may be hurtful to people engaged in the serious work of cultural revitalization or renewal to disparage their efforts as non-traditional.

The word "hurtful" really stood out to me and made me realise that there is the potential for this to happen when one is analysing/critiqueing cultures whatever colour/culture one is. It is a really interesting situation with diverse voices, and so many stories to tell. I guess it might be a question of time before whitefella culture claims the didgeridoo as their own (if they haven't already) with its own (recent) tradition... would that be a logical extension of your argument? I guess many of us who play the didgeridoo might be seeking personal/spiritual validation through an ancient musical practice. Could this be our own form of "cultural revitalization or renewal "? When does this become cultural theft, and when is it an acceptable extension of our supposed shared spiritual connection? Just a teaser of a question...

Guan

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[pacdidj]

ididjaustralia wrote:

I guess it might be a question of time before whitefella culture claims the didgeridoo as their own (if they haven't already) with its own (recent) tradition... would that be a logical extension of your argument? I guess many of us who play the didgeridoo might be seeking personal/spiritual validation through an ancient musical practice. Could this be our own form of "cultural revitalization or renewal "? When does this become cultural theft, and when is it an acceptable extension of our supposed shared spiritual connection? Just a teaser of a question...

It's a good question Guan. I think the international didj diaspora certainly already has its own nascent traditions. The JT festival being only one good example. What will be really interesting to see is what happens as the non-Aboriginal didj scene starts to cross a generational threshold. There are certainly already a few cases of kids here in the US learning didjeridu from their parents. It will be interesting to see how this affects the trajectory of the international didj scene, what styles get transmitted from parents to children, etc.
Certainly many non-Aboriginal folks have adopted the didjeridu as part of a personal spiritual practice, but I don't see this as fundamentally the same as what artists like David, Ash, and William are doing, and thus wouldn't call it neo-traditional, for several reasons. In no case I can think of would I describe Western, and non-Aboriginal uses of the didjeridu as part of a cultural revitalization project. That is, didjeridu is not being used in these cases as part of (even if a new part of) the revival of historic traditions and practices that have fallen by the wayside. There may in some cases be an element of cultural renewal, that is the use of didjeridu to reference ontologies, belief systems, or spiritual practices, and other cultural forms that preexisted its entry into the international cosmopolitan sphere, but even this strikes me as fairly rare. It seems that for the most part when white folks, Westerners, and other non-Aboriginal people who take up the didjeridu as part of a spiritual practice are pioneering a new form of spirituality, and not revitalizing or referencing preexisting forms.
I should also say that I don't see such uses of the didjeridu as ethically neutral necessarily. I am simply advocating a nuanced and complicated view of the situation and trying to take multiple perspectives into consideration. As regards cultural theft, or appropriation, I think we always need to keep power relations in mind as a key variable. Charges of appropriation and theft are almost always leveled whenever a group in a position of power or privilege over another group adopts the less privileged group's cultural forms, and there is almost always political and ethical validity to such charges, even if they do oversimplify complex social processes somewhat. These differences in power relations also influence my thinking about the dissimilarity between cultural revitalization and renewal movements among Aboriginal peoples outside Arnhem Land, and the use of the didjeridu in the international world music and new age scenes. I think it is empirically the case, which many Yolngu and other Arnhem Land countrymen recognize, that Queenslander Aboriginal peoples, and children of the Stolen Generations that have lost contact with their Aboriginal cultural roots, do not by and large occupy a position of privilege or power over Top End Aboriginal peoples from the NT or WA. I think many Arnhem Landers also recognize that the didjeridu is useful and important to these other Aboriginal groups as an index and a tool for maintaining Aboriginal identity and traditions, and don't by and large begrudge these people the use of the didjeridu. It was certainly interesting to see some of the interaction of William Barton and his young friend Woonan (sp?) from Mt. Isa with Djalu' and the Gurruwiwi family at the Garma festival this summer. Djalu' expressed support for "These Yolngu from other parts of Australia", who had their own culture, language, and didjeridu styles.
Contrarily, I think many Yolngu and other Top End Aboriginal peoples don't support the use of didjeridu by non-Aboriginal peoples who claim some kind of artificial link with Aboriginality through the didjeridu, or use it in invented spiritual practices. Randy's research addresses this to some extent: Yidaki Dhawu page
And the economic implications of these uses of the didjeridu, and Top End peoples' concerns for their livelihoods are a whole separate can of worms that you are probably much better prepared to discuss than I am Guan.
There's definitely many sides to these issues, and many voices to consider. I just wanted to stick up for the work of artists like Ash, David and William a bit, and caution against statements like:

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To me this kind of music as nothing to do with Aboriginal culture

Aboriginality is a very complex and multi-faceted thing, and means very different things in different parts of Australia. I just think we should treat these things that are integral to peoples' identities with respect.

All best,
Phil