iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

[Peter Lister]

Come the end of this month, DidjBeat here in Sydney is closing.

I'm sure quite a few of you here will have seen, visited or been involved in some way. Quite a few famous didj nuts have passed through DidjBeat over the last 10 years.

Mel put together a farewell to thank everyone - you'll see some famous faces/names if you visit this link;

http://www.twenty5eight.net/client/didjbeat.html

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Bita

[kdidj]

The end of an era for the Sydney scene eh Peter? Quite a few familiar faces in there. I enjoyed my limited experience at Didj Beat. I wish Mel well in her future endeavours.

Is Elanor's shop in Manley still open?

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www.kdidj.com
www.myspace.com/kylemaplesden

[danielsaan]

My friend Takk works there! I can't believe Mel is shutting down the only decent didge shop I found in Sydney. It's a damn shame.

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I've just watched it all the way through. Peter, if you see Mel (and I saw you in the clip!) please give her my best. She did well - that film is the ultimate didge player's CV: Djalu, Jeremy Cloake, Si, Guan, Cyrung and a whole host of other people all stopped at her 'inn' and played and shared. It's very poignant. I am glad I saw it when it was doing well. And Mel is pretty cool.


Dan

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Danyu

[Peter Lister]

kdidj wrote:

The end of an era for the Sydney scene eh Peter? Quite a few familiar faces in there. I enjoyed my limited experience at Didj Beat. I wish Mel well in her future endeavours. Is Elanor's shop in Manley still open?

To be honest I really don't know - I'm not really a part of the whole didj scene (that's a young mans' game mate).

Yeah there's not been many reputable/ethical didj shops in Sydney and in that part of the city, The Rocks as it's known, we probably get the highest numbers of visitors too. So I think this will be a real loss. I haven't spoken with Melina - it may be that there will still be such a shop, but certainly it won't exist as 'Didj Beat'. If I hear anything I'll post it here.

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Bita

[Yirrkala Arts]

Mel's been looking to get out of the business for a while. Last I spoke to her, she was planning on taking some time off, and then maybe starting an Aboriginal art business.

Elinor packed up and went off to Alice Springs, I believe. A nephew took over the shop, or rather moved his old business... Spirit of the Dreamtime? into the Manly location. They made one big order a while back and that's it. DidjBeat hasn't been buying for a while. I did get Ulladulla by the Opera House and Blue Gum in the Queen Victoria Building to step up and get some higher quality instruments from us, but it's slow going, maybe 15 year. This is how sad the didjeridu market is in this country - that pretty much wraps up all the resellers of Yirrkala's Yidaki except Guan!

[ididjaustralia]

Yirrkala Arts wrote:

that pretty much wraps up all the resellers of Yirrkala's Yidaki except Guan!

Long live iDIDJ Australia! And long live Yirrkala too!

It is sad about Melina shutting shop, she's been in business selling didgeridoos for 12 odd years and having moved some 45,000 sticks in that time that's pretty good work which amounts to about 10 sticks a day for 365 days a year.

Melina to her credit was also one of the first retailers to keep a store continuously stocked with traditional Aboriginal instruments from the 'Top End'. There was a time back in the 1990s when Didj Beat and myself as a private collector were buying instruments from Arnhem Land before the rest of the world really knew what yidaki or mago were. And Didj Beat also has the distinguished claim to fame of having employed Jeremy Cloake in Sydney before he began his remarkable stint at Yirrkala managing yidaki sales and winning 2 NT Export Awards in consecutive years for the art centre.

There's a lot of history there in Didj Beat and a lot of stories as well, it was definitely a Sydney institution. It'll be sadly missed by many.

As for iDIDJ Australia, there are no plans to close shop yet, there's still plenty of life left. I worked out that this is my 15th year working with Aboriginal people in Arnhem Land but there's so much more to know and to learn. And best of all, work, to be honest, doesn't feel like work

Guan

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iDIDJ Australia - Didgeridoo Cultural Hub
E-mail: info@ididj.com.au
Web: www.ididj.com.au
YouTube: www.youtube.com/ididjaustralia

[ididjaustralia]

I just had a look at paperwork I've kept over the years of didgeridoos I've bought. It turns out the first instrument I ever purchased from eastern Arnhem Land with kept documentation was from the 25th of March 1992. The instrument was made by old man Mathulu Munyarryun (who is still alive, Djakapurra's second father) of Dhalinybuy outstation, from Nambara Arts - which no longer exists by the way. The first yidaki from Buku-L that I have paperwork for is from almost exactly 2 years later, the 23rd of March 1994. It was one made by Yumuttjin Wunungmurra at the time Steve Fox was the art coordinator there. In the intervening period I must have had hundreds of instruments, no-where near Melina's 45,000 sticks mind you, but each hand-selected for that cherished traditional sound. And like those early pioneer collector-dealers Dorothy Bennett, Jim Davidson et. al. I've also dealt directly with artists and craftspeople, beginning with community members gifting me instruments from 1994. And then with iDIDJ Australia's establishment in 2003, being able to work directly with artisans especially through the iDIDJ artist-in-residence program. More about our next artist later, very exciting talent but we're not giving any hints just yet...!

This is a bit of a distraction from the thread, sorry about that. With Didj Beat closing, it brings back lots of nostalgia and reminds me of the interesting journey we've all embarked on since our discovery of this fascinating musical instrument/cultural phenomenon.

Bita I am sure has invaluable insights on where authentic instruments could be purchased in the early days. There used to be mission shops and government-sponsored outlets around Australia selling Aboriginal art and artifacts, in Sydney, Melbourne etc. This is going to back to the 1970s and 1980s yes? Specialist didgeridoo retailers never existed until the 1990s I'd say, with Indigenous Creations in Darwin one of the early businesses to focus solely on the didgeridoo. And they did very well too, opening up a number of shop fronts in Darwin and also establishing an outlet in Cairns in Queensland at their peak, but they're down to a single store now.

Guan

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iDIDJ Australia - Didgeridoo Cultural Hub
E-mail: info@ididj.com.au
Web: www.ididj.com.au
YouTube: www.youtube.com/ididjaustralia

[stockie]

This is my tribute and if you want to know how it is feel free to ask (its to do with their website)

[ididjaustralia]

Hey, that's cheating Stockie, that came from mixin' it up on Didj Beat's website lol!

I'm rather coy about it now because my skills back then as a web designer was pretty poor (not much better these days I might add) but I created Didj Beat's first website, a very simple design it was. I also did Indigenous Creations' website, too many years ago now though IC no longer has a web presence as its business was walk-in trade mostly. They're all a good bunch, Melina at DB as well as Kim and Bill over at IC.

Guan

_________________
iDIDJ Australia - Didgeridoo Cultural Hub
E-mail: info@ididj.com.au
Web: www.ididj.com.au
YouTube: www.youtube.com/ididjaustralia

[stockie]

well done Guan but as you had first hand knowledge as well i throw the cheating back at ya tee hee so what do you think to the mixing and editing cool or not ?

[marcuz]

hello Guan, hello Randin, hello other people in the forum who i still dunno!

my first contribution to the forum ever, ha! I'm Marcos, from Barcelona...

i was wandering if Bandigan in Sydney was still open and if they were still selling didjeridu... i remember they used to sell yidaki from Yirrkala in the shop, when it was in downtown Sydney... Last time i saw John and Sue was in Darwin at the TelstraAwards, looong ago, they told me they were going to move the shop to Woollarah, if i'm not wrong, and they were going to focus on art, not selling any more didjeridu... Bandigan used to be quite okay, at a time i only remember of it and DidjBeat being the good shops for didjeridu in Sydney...

about didjeridu business... man, what's going on??? i'm probably the only retailer selling trad stuff in Spain, what i have for sale here at the moment is probably the best i've had in the years i've been doin' this... but the business is sooooooo slow... no one buys... but apparently, more people play... i've sold 5 yidaki since last september... when it should have been rather 15... and i think it's not a problem of selling trad didjeridu, since they're all easy good players for all styles...
Randin, are you getting less orders? or is it just me who isn't ordering u any stufff (sorry for that!!!!!)...

is there anybody in europe buying didjeridu outside the trad scene?... how's things for the shop in Amsterdam??

cheers!
m

[ididjaustralia]

Great to see you here Marcos! Anyone who is in Spain, you should definitely get in contact with Marcos if you're remotely interested in trad stuff.

Bandigan has moved and is now mainly a fine art gallery but they might a handful of leftover instruments from before I think.

Guan

_________________
iDIDJ Australia - Didgeridoo Cultural Hub
E-mail: info@ididj.com.au
Web: www.ididj.com.au
YouTube: www.youtube.com/ididjaustralia

[marcuz]

hey guan!

thanx for your reply, and obviously thanx a lot for the promo!!!

happy to join the forum, hope to catch up quickly (tough one!) with all the issues discussed, being an active participant... (another tough mission, considering tight lives...)...

cheers,
m

[Peter Lister]

ididjaustralia wrote:

Bita I am sure has invaluable insights on where authentic instruments could be purchased in the early days. There used to be mission shops and government-sponsored outlets around Australia selling Aboriginal art and artifacts, in Sydney, Melbourne etc. This is going to back to the 1970s and 1980s yes? Specialist didgeridoo retailers never existed until the 1990s I'd say, with Indigenous Creations in Darwin one of the early businesses to focus solely on the didgeridoo. And they did very well too, opening up a number of shop fronts in Darwin and also establishing an outlet in Cairns in Queensland at their peak, but they're down to a single store now. Guan

Yep, here in Sydney you would have been hard presed to find a didj before 1980 and yuo'd never have seen a didj playing busker then. I bought my first stick from the Bush Church Aid Society - a tiny shop in Bathurst Street in 1978. During the 80's there were a few specialist Aboriginal Arts enterprises such as 'Aboriginal Arts and Crafts' down at The Rocks - in Argyle St. There was another in Alice Springs where I also bought an Arnhem Land stick in 1980. As you say, no didj shops. Places like Bandigan and later Didj Beat were pioneers. Bandigan is a fine arts gallery still run by John and Suzie in Queens St Woollahra now carrying mostly paintings an dthe odd "sculpture".

Didj Beat was my only real connection with the didj "scene" - it's a young mans' game and I'm beyond it but every now and then I'd drop in to see Melina and have a chat with whoever was about - "touch base" and all that. Yep, a nice crowd, will miss them being there.

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Bita

[YidakiMago]

She was and is a Queen lady. True golden hart. It was Mel who sad that I should go for traditional instruments when she heard me playing. Without any self interest, and her shop was full with marvels she still said I should buy from Djalu and gave me the numbers of David Howell and Frank Till. Because of here I ended up in Darwin, not knowing that DidjBeat was Nirvana.

Not sure if you do read this Melina, but thanks for the very special memories. Still got the Blanasi tape.

Peter