iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

[martin]

Great conversation, thanks Lucas for provoking it!
I must echo GGW and Jason's words.

Yolngu in particular, but also other aboriginal groups in Arnhem Land use a wider variety of instrument types that what most people believe. Different instruments for different purposes and sounds. Tight high-pressure instruments, but also instruments that have more open bores or bigger bells.
I have a lovely instrument made by Djalu and played quite a lot by him which does not have a huge bell, 12cm or so, has a biggish mouthpiece, about 32-34 mm and an open bore. It plays beautifully but to play it well in trad style takes a certain amount of experience. I can play it nicely enough now and am really happy for all the work that I put in to learn to play it well, it has an absolutely beautiful sound.

Apart from listening lots, another good pratice is to imitate the same sounds and rhythms on some Yolngu recording on a variety of different yidaki. It is great for building understanding of different instrument types and for developing flexibility in your playing technique.

As far as other things to listen to some other easy to find and excellent recordings are the Arnhem Land Popular Classics all of the Masters Series - of which the two Djalu teaches cds are part.

cheers, Martin

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[yidakiroma]

I agree Martin.
I've play a large (no much...large) number of Yidaki, and anyone of this have peculiar caracteristic who "teach" me anything anytime I playing it.

[ididjaustralia]

Hi Lucas,

Good to have you here and thanks for dropping in.

I've been away and haven't had a chance to offer a response until now. I'll keep it short, however, though if you need further clarification I'm happy to elaborate.

About didjshop, it isn't so much that their instruments might not be fully traditional. They are not traditional at all. There's no such thing in my mind as part traditional when it comes to didgeridoos. They are either traditional or they are not.

With regards to value judgements about instruments being bad or poor sounding, that is a subjective thing and dependent on the player's/listener's taste and also their level of understanding and experience in things didgeridoo. What is bad is when retailers and manufacturers make false claims about their products. This isn't only bad, it is illegal.

Your question about the the "use" of poor sounding authentic instruments? My answer is simple, it puts money into the pockets of Aboriginal people who have the instrument as part of their cultural heritage. Some people might not want playing instruments either, they might like the look of it, or they might simply want to support the traditional owners by buying a piece of their work. Either way, there is a broad spectrum of quality among traditional Aboriginal didgeridoos from Arnhem Land, for example, and I'm confident in saying that some of the best instruments available anywhere in the world come from Arnhem Land. I've played thousands upon thousands of didgeridoos over a span of 15+ years, and the Arnhem Land instruments are the ones that I find outshine all others when it comes to individual voice characteristics and acoustic personality. I'm such a fan that I've devoted my life in the past few years to support, promote and nurture Arnhem Land artisans. That's the reason for the existence of iDIDJ Australia.

Your statement about re-selling is fair enough, but it misses my point about the subjective nature and artificially-inflated pricing of tourist-grade or generic-type didgeridoos such as those offered by didjshop and others. The point I was making was a simple one... if Joe Bloggs walked into a shop and bought a generic didgeridoo (anything less than CI4), the moment he walked out of the shop he would have lost money on it. An independent authority which has expertise on valuing things, such as a museum or auction house, would look upon generic type didgeridoos as nothing more than souvenir objects. Authentic traditional Aboriginal instruments, however, are considered as collectibles. There's a snob factor there no doubt, the same sort of thing that distinguishes a Picasso painting from the scribblings of a student still in art school.

The important point I would like to make is that you should follow your own sound. If you like something, no-one should be able to change you. Your sound is your passion.

What worries me, however, is the amount of b*llsh*t out there on the internet when it comes to didgeridoos, authenticity and quality. For beginners/novices, it is easy to believe all that hype and mumbo jumbo. Do your research, listen to those with experience and knowledge, ask plenty of questions, never accept simple answers. I've had increasing numbers of reports and feedback comments through the Didjeridu Detective page at iDIDJ Australia, which is worrying but also good as it means consumers are starting to wake up and to ask the right questions.

Over and out now.

Guan

Lucas Trapaza wrote:

Hello, I have been reading your comments about the didjshop and, really, I think they are exaggerated. They might not be fully traditional, I agree, but this does not mean they are bad instruments. You speak about Cl 4 instruments as the best, but I see no comment about sound quality, what is the use of a "pure" Cl4 instrument with poor sound? (and there are a good few of these) moreover, you suggest that this instruments are only for novices, well try what the didjshop call "high concert" didjs and you will see that it is not true. In fact some of this didjs are, to my opinion, one of the very best I've ever heard. And also very important, the didjshop treats their customers very, very well, and that is very important. I do not find convincing the argument of re-selling: this might be appealing for some people, I can understand it, but not for me: when I buy a didj I want to play it not to make money with it or sending it to a museum, I want a didj to be a good one. It is true that there are some wonderful traditional instruments but others are not so good indeed (both in sound quality and decoration), I've had the opportunity of playing some of them (from reliable sources) and I was not always impressed. I think we should be all more open-minded, traditional and new styles are not opposite but complementary. I enjoy both traditional and modern styles, traditional and modern instruments. I have both didjshop didjs (specially high concerts) and fully traditional (Cl 4 class from reliable source) and I enjoy them both. ididjaustralia wrote: Hi Jason, Thanks for that, it is interesting indeed and I look forward to hearing what response they provide you. As far as iDIDJ Australia is concerned, the didgeridoos from Didjshop fall into the categories of CI 1 and CI 2 in our Cultural Indications Index, with CI 4 as the highest level of cultural integrity and authenticity. If members haven't seen the CI Index, take a look here: http://www.ididj.com.au/authenticity/label.html The fact that Didjshop works on instruments after they have received them from producers, as pointed out in their newsletter, confirms this. I suspect what this means is that Didjshop buys raw blanks from harvesters and then make up didges themselves. They may be nice sounding for novice didge players, but they're hardly what I would call collectible or investment pieces. Anyone who tries to re-sell their Didjshop instrument, or any generic didgeridoo, will lose a a chunk of money on their original investment. It is far better to purchase a CI 4 instrument from a credible source that is recognised and respected beyond the didgeridoo scene to protect or to grow your investment. That's what I'm hoping iDIDJ Australia is able to stand for, as we've supplied state and national museums in Australia and overseas, and we have also been accepted by premier auction houses in Australia that specialise in Aboriginal art. If you brought a Didjshop didgeridoo or any generic instrument to these places, you'd be laughed at.

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[GGW]

Hi there

Quote:

Either way, there is a broad spectrum of quality among traditional Aboriginal didgeridoos from Arnhem Land, for example, and I'm confident in saying that some of the best instruments available anywhere in the world come from Arnhem Land.

Absolutly !

Quote:

I've played thousands upon thousands of didgeridoos over a span of 15+ years, and the Arnhem Land instruments are the ones that I find outshine all others when it comes to individual voice characteristics and acoustic personality

Nothing yet found even close.

Quote:

Authentic traditional Aboriginal instruments, however, are considered as collectibles. There's a snob factor there no doubt, the same sort of thing that distinguishes a Picasso painting from the scribblings of a student still in art school.

What's is looking like a didgeridoo ....another didgeridoo
Yidaki are unique ,they are not just unique musical instrument they are unique peices of art living in time .

Quote:

What worries me, however, is the amount of b*llsh*t out there on the internet when it comes to didgeridoos, authenticity and quality. For beginners/novices, it is easy to believe all that hype and mumbo jumbo. Do your research,

Hard to do a good research in this ocean of b*llsh*t .Ist everywhere ,on internet ,in festival ,in the street,ect ect .
Most of the time we are extremist or purist with bad serial splitter instrument and we sound just like shit. In the name of the "politicly correct " the problems are still there.....there is a world of difference of becoming a didgeridoo player and a yidaki player .

GGW

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