In our first issue, we discussed the term didjeridu. Let us now turn our attention to it's origins. In 1835 a man named T.B. Wilson describes an aboriginal man playing an instrument called the eboro in Raffles Bay on the Coburg Peninsula.(4) It was described as being made of bamboo and about three feet in length. The earliest references to the instrument all occur in the later part of the last century. The hard wood instruments particular to Arnhem Land (yidakis) are usually of "Stringy Bark" and 'woolybutt' in the North and Red River Gum further south near Katherine. There is also documentation of didjeridus made of palm even further south. By the time anthropologist Alice Moyle was publishing her field work in the mid 1970s, aboriginal groups where using found pipes such as land rover tailpipes and water pipes as didjeridus.
Pictures of male figures holding didjeridu like instruments to their mouths have been found in cave paintings discovered during expeditions during the late 1940's. Rings on the instruments pictured in the cave drawings suggested nodes of bamboo. Further suggesting an instrument constructed of light weight material, the players are shown using a one hand grip while playing.
While there is some published evidence that the didjeridu made it's appearance in Australia within the past 1,000 years, the aboriginals themselves trace it's history back much further. All the way back to the Dreamtime, the primordial time of the creative ancestors who created this reality. There are several stories which are known to us about the role of the didjeridu in creation, but we'll save those for future issues.
Along with a new batch of yidakis from Australia, we received some very colorfully painted click sticks of unusual shape and size. They are on in the display case which contains the CD's and Tapes. We also have the newest Trance Mission release and some copies of a tape from the Didjeri Dudes who are a very eclectic two man troupe from Seattle Washington. Brian Pertl and Jamie Cunningham are two ethnomusicologist and didjeridu teachers who collaborated on the tape to provide their students with an example of how to put the techniques they teach into practice.
Call the Art center for information on all their didjeridu offerings at 823 ARTS.
Didjeri News is published by Australian Originals 28 SW 1st, Portland, Oregon 97204 (503) 228 4484