This
issue, we get a chance to meet a truly interesting man who's surname just
happens to be Man. As with most men, I found I had much more in common
with Richard Man than would one would suspect on the surface. Indeed we
grew up on opposites of the world. But there is this conduit between people
who play the didjeridu. A pipeline, if you will..
The common interest here is more than just the pipe itself. It's more than just knowing some of the same people. And it is more than just being fellow list members and didjeridu players living on the West Coast of the United States. It is a drive to better understand and play some elusive sounds and patterns that many other didjeridu players never give more than passing interest to. Sounds and patterns which we will never play to our satisfaction because although our backgrounds are as different as can be, they are yet again so different from the culture from which "that sound" sprang that neither of us may ever attain the language, stamina or skill to re-create on our pipes, what people who identify themselves as Murngin, Rembaarunga, Dieri, Binbing or any of 40 to 80 names associated with the traditional lands of the Didjeridu. But it is the search and practice for the sound which fires our passion for playing. And although we may disagree on the details of how to get there, we support and inspire each other on the journey
[Ed] When did you first hear the didjeridu and what was the context in which it was being used?
[Richard] The first time I *consciously* heard the didjeridu was in the San Jose New Age Renaissance Faire, around Nov. 1995. A group of people were selling didjs, which on hindsight must be fairly nicely done PVC pipes. They were also playing and selling the Inlakesh CDs. I walked back to the booth 3 or 4 times, kept getting dragged back by the sound. I didn't quite know what to make of it. I didn't buy a didj and I didn't even buy a CD then. I made some lame excuse about the cost of the CD to my wife, but I think perhaps subconsciously I know that I would be drawn into this thing very deeply and I was afraid what that meant. But I guess as they say, "Resistance is futile!"
At that particular event, that's all they were doing, selling CDs and didjs. I have heard that a number of "healers" show up in the current incarnations of these events nowadays. I am not a new ager per se, so I don't go to them anymore. For the record, I am a Taoist pagan just so that people won't have preconceived notions about me :-) Everyone "knows" what a new ager is, but few know about Taoist pagans so I am safe :-)
Also for the record, each one of those :-) is a giggle, which I do a lot. I wasn't quite aware that my giggles are THAT noticeable until Brandi mentioned that Randy mentioned my giggles to her, and I only met Randy for an hour at best! To quote Brandi, "...And no one giggles better than Richard."
[Ed] Well, a sense of humor is important to a Taoist pagan I suppose. So if your first exposure to the didjeridu was along the lines of PVC didjs I rather imagine that you've shifted somewhat in direction. What came next?
[Richard] By the way, my thoughts and sentences tend to run on and on so let me compress the first year for you :-) After a few months, the SOUND kept calling me so I searched on the Internet and found the Mills list and instructions on how to play!
Around that time, we were going to take a three week trip back to the East Coast, including spending five days in the woods for a big pagan gathering, so I thought it would be just perfect that I learn the instrument. We went to Santa Cruz to a shop known to carry percussion instruments but they didn't have any real good instruments there, or rather, I couldn't get anything other than a dying cow sound from them, and a couple hundred bucks is awfully expensive to pay to get a dying cow sound. The woman working there demonstrated "the way it is done" for me and told me that I should just get a PVC pipe to start. So that's what I did. I went on the trip with a 60 inches long, 2 inches diameter PVC pipe cut into three for traveling.
It was a bit too big of course but I didn't know that at the time. After the 3 week trip, I could get some drone and I was hooked. First I searched high and low throughout the Bay Area for a used "real" didj. I actually found Clarion at that time, but was discouraged by the pricetags. I found a cheap bamboo that was quite useless really, and used that for a month or two. Then I went up to visit Barry Hall and got one of his wonderful ceramic creations, and then a couple months later I got an Allan Shockley Dreampipe from a local store. I love the agave. It is so easy to play!
By the way, the woman in the Santa Cruz shop turned out to be Kristan Cunningham, whom I met on-line again early this year, and I wrote a summary to the list titled "Circular Breathing and Circular Relations" about it. I don't much believe in coincidence or chances. If you observe, things happen, it's part of the magic. I mean, I could have easily not remembered her, and missed out having fun conversations with her 2 years later.
I got my first wood instrument about a year after I started, in Chicago where I was visiting. I very much prefer wooden instruments nowadays but I still recommend agaves to beginners. Not that they are only good for beginners but that they are good for beginners up to master levels. To me, a didj has certain amount of potential and each player has certain amount of potential. A great didj can bring out the best from a player and vice verse. Sort of like if you are serious about such stuff, you only make tea using the finest leaves with a Yixing teapot, and in water that is collected from the first dew of the morning. Anycase, I believe euc didjs have the most such potential. I don't know, may be I should just call it the soul of the didj. I think the soul of didj encompasses its material, its origin, its maker, and everything about it.
Yes, when you come right down to it, it is just a hollow log, but I am a romanticist this way.
[Ed] Being a romanticist in one way often means your a romanticist in other was as well (or is that projection?). How would you describe your style of playing and who are your influences?
[Richard] I play three different styles. The first style is a meditative style that I usually only play on the big B agave. It's a 6'4" monster that has incredible amount of harmonics. This is probably my most spiritual playing because when I play this style, my total focus is for trance inducing and mind bending. There is a piece that I am tentatively calling "Prayers," that I chant into the pipe a lot. People tell me that they hear 3, 4 voices coming out - voices that are mine and yet not mine. Powerful stuff indeed.
My normal style is fast rhythmic, diaphragm bounced breaths with lots of power barks. The barks are straight off Yothu Yindi stuff. I guess this is the most me-me-me-style although obviously I am influenced greatly by others. Yothu Yindi, Stephen Kent, etc. I feel very lucky to live in the Bay Area. I have seen Stephen Kent and his group more than half a dozen times in 3 years. And multiple workshops and even a private lesson from Stephen, plus we have artists such as Mark Atkins and Janawirri, and of course David Blanasi this past week. It really is a good place for a didjeriduist to hang out.
Finally, I am absolutely fascinated by the traditional styles from the Top End. I think my first impressions of the traditional songs are very much like most people's impressions, that they sound repetitive and the same, boring even. The words are often so fast that I kept thinking that they were probably just mouthing gibberish, perhaps as a nasty trick to westerners :-). I think what got me interested were posts made by Guan Lim and Peter Lister. I read and reread Guan's old web site on the Yolngu techniques, and then got the CDs by Yothu Yindi, and it just grew from there. The rhythms are subtle, but very gripping once you listen to them carefully. And of course there is the challenge factor - how on earth do they do that? More than one person suspects that non-Yolngu cannot hope to master the technique because we don't have the language skill and perhaps even the right physiology. Perhaps so, but that does not mean we have to stop trying :-) I think JFK got it right, "We choose to go to the moon (and other stuff)... not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
I would guess that my current attempt at the traditional styles is a mixture of Western and Northeastern Arnhem Land styles. I can't do regular toots that well in general and the Yolngu toots totally escape me for now. Taking the Blanasi workshop just this past Sunday gave me a deeper appreciation of the WAL style, and in a sense, it is a little more basic so I think it is a little bit easier to learn. Of course, mastering it is a whole different story :-)
As to how romanticism fits in, as a pagan, I deeply respect the First People on this earth, and the Aboriginal people's intimate relationship with their land they live on is something that I can only imagine. Apart from all that, I am the type that believes in building a strong foundation, and I think studying the traditional styles helps me to build a strong foundation.
[Ed] What are some of your favorite Yothu Yindi and Stephen Kent pieces? And what have you learned or "borrowed" from them as applied of your playing style? As for the meditative stuff, have you spent much time listening to "meditative" music from other artists?
[Richard] For the meditative stuff, I listen to Inlakesh and Stephen Kent. Not really copying anything except for the beginning of Stephen's White Tree, where he goes drone and then wah-wah-wah-wah-wah really fast with the tongue squirts. That intro is a good way to start a slow piece.
As wonderful that Stephen's CDs are, seeing him live is even more satisfying. His recordings capture the music, but cannot capture the magic of the performances. I mean, that guy is so into the rhythms - he shakes, dances, drums, when he plays the didj. It is just great stuff. I have not consciously tried to learn any riffs from his pieces per se though. Stephen's songs usually start with some riffs but then he goes all over the place with them. It is a very improvisational process and copying an improvisational piece just sounds odd, even if it is possible.
So the last statement sounds contradictory to this next one - my favorite Yothu Yindi pieces are the traditional ones where I can try to imitate the songs. In the traditional styles, the basic riff stays the same, and the variations come in with changes in pacing, slight note and timbre changes by placing the tongue at different positions, or using different sound words etc. So in a sense, it is improvisational too, but the outer structure is notably the same. I am still struggling with just the basic chords so I have not really sat down much and analyzed all the nuances of any piece yet. Of course not knowing what mouth sounds they use in a piece does not help at all. I think there is at least one piece where they precede the traditional piece with the mouth sounds spoken, but I haven't tried to learn the words yet. I suppose I should. There are other examples where they speak the mouth sounds on the Moyle's CDs. Of course I don't speak the language and there are far fewer Rs in my native tongue, Cantonese Chinese than the Yolngu language so just imitating the spoken words is a big challenge.
I did pick up the vocal shrieks and the power barks. They are effective in any style so I use them a lot. However, I am totally lost on the Yolngu toots so far. It took me a few months to learn to circular breath while playing the traditional technique so I just assume that it is a matter of time when I can do the Yolngu toots.
In a sense, the WAL style, is refreshingly even more basic than the NE Arnhem style. One basic riff, done at different speed, and dropping or repeating a syllable here and there, when masterfully done by someone like Blanasi, is all one needs.
Offhand, I like Yothu Yindi's Gapu, Cora, and Beyarrmak. There are others that I like, but these come to mind because although traditional, they have a more modern feel to the arrangement. In fact, ultimately, my goal is to play with traditional styles on more modern music, perhaps the folkish songs or pagan chants that we do a lot. It may be important that the Aboriginal songs have certain tonal structures - even the Yothu Yindi's rock songs have that structure of high-low-lower. Maybe songs that don't use this tonal structure will not sound good with the didjeridu played in a traditional style but I am not sure yet. Finally, for general listening while working on the computer, I like Yothu Yindi's rock songs too since the words are in English so I can sing with them. I work at home so I have the flexibility to do things like singing while typing :-)
[Ed] You seemed to have found your studies in Yolgnu technique were helpful when learning another playing style which was from Western Arnhem Land. With your interest learning as much as is possible about these Aboriginal playing styles, I would guess you would want to learn all variations of traditional music. Do you expect that certain styles are more amenable to placing with in a contemporary piece and still be recognizable?
[Richard] Well, my knowledge on the different Aboriginal styles is pretty limited. Fortunately, some Aboriginal musicians are already doing that, with Yothu Yindi as the obvious example. They have to modify certain techniques of course. For example, they just about do no tooting at all when they play the yidaki as an accompaniment to the rock songs. The reason being that the sound engineers match the fundamental note of the didj with the key of the song, and the blown overtones would not match and will sound out of place. On the other hand, they accentuate the use of the vocal shrieks since they come up even amidst the loud rock vocals and instruments. They also have more than one didjeriduists playing at the same time, which is not done in traditional settings, but to me, that is a minor detail. Also some toots would be fine. For example, Dr. Didg's Brolga has some toots, just not much as a traditional piece.
There are other Aboriginal groups using the didjeridu in contemporary music: the Schellberg book mentions about the Sunrize band, and Peter Lister mentioned Sunrize and the band Saltwater. Unfortunately, these groups' music seem to be hard to find even in Australia, let alone in the US. I don't know what regions and what styles they play.
As for WAL style, I would also expect that it would work reasonably well in certain music. For example, I was just listening to Moyle CD#1, and track 13 is a Wongga about a buffalo hunt. To my ears, the singing melody of that piece is remarkably similar to Western folk song tunes.
The question though is how best to use them together. For example, a typical western song has a steady time signature: 3/4, 4/4, or whatever. However it is our understanding that the traditional Aboriginal songs don't adhere to that rigid structure and the songman determines the time signature on the fly! (as a side comment - isn't it interesting that the Aboriginal music, which is perceived as being repetitive and monotonous, has this freedom that is not done in modern music?) When playing in contemporary music, the didjeridu is usually played in normal western time signatures.
However, when doing that, there is a real danger of relegating the didjeridu as just an instrument to replace the bass. As one of my drummer friends said, "I don't want to be the metronome." The NE Arnhem style, with the vocal shrieks, has more flair, so not changing the time signature does not hurt it too much. In fact, in many NE Arnhem Land songs, I don't believe the time signature changes at all, but with the WAL style, if you can't change the time signature, that cuts down the creative portion of the style by a major factor. So may be it is possible to use the WAL style in contemporary music, but may be it won't sound like the WAL style anymore :-(
Moyle separates the didjeridu techniques into two major styles - the NE Arnhem Land (B type) and Western Arnhem Land (A type), but we know a lot of sub-regional varieties exist. The biggest danger is that some of these techniques may be lost to us forever. Already, there are very few traditional players and some of the younger generations are learning other regions' techniques or not learning traditional techniques at all. It is very fortunate that we have some of the field recordings around, but they can be hard to get and moreover, music samples are not sufficient to learn these techniques. For example, initially I wasn't getting too far just listening to the CDs and rereading many times on Guan Lim's materials. The initial breakthrough for me was to read David Turner's book and realize the importance of the mouthsounds! I think it is fortunate that Blanasi is still around and performing just when the appreciation of traditional music steadily increases. Hopefully, he will inspire some of us to adapt the techniques in our musical endeavors.
[Ed] Mouth sounds are the basis of everything for me as well, especially in the context of breath. And the subject of mouth sounds leads into the subject of language. Are you bi or multi lingual? And do you think that is an advantage to you as you try to emulate the Aboriginal players who are almost always multi-lingual speaking several dialects of Aboriginal language in addition to English in most cases?
[Richard] I was born and raised in Hong Kong, so my native tongue is Cantonese Chinese. In fact, it tickles me pink that the first other Chinese player I heard of is Guan Lim from Australia, who is like I am, also Hakka descended (Hakka is a sub-ethnic group in Canton, moved to Southern China from the north around 800 AD). I am not sure being bilingual helps me though since there are two major factors against me. The first one being that in general, I am not very gifted with language ability. I came here when I was 13 and 24 years later, I still speak with an accent :-(. Second, Cantonese does not have any R's, which seems to occur in every other syllable in the Aboriginal languages :-) To this date, I have problems pronouncing Rs. It's almost a cruel joke that my name is Richard except that I have no one else to blame since I was the person who picked the name! I guess I didn't know better then :-)
However, I can see how being bilingual may help. Since I always have problems with understanding the lyrics, even in English or some other dialects of Chinese, I have trained myself to appreciate music without necessarily understanding the words. I think all world music lovers would agree to that. If you do not have a love for the traditional styles, you are not going to learn them anyway. Also, usually the Aboriginal songmen sing with a fairly high nasal sound and I know some people have problems with that. While not the singing style that I normally would enjoy, I am more used to it because several Chinese singing styles are nasal also.
So my guess is that overall, being bilingual helps and certainly it does not hurt, but being opened to alternative music, and having the tenacity to keep trying is a bigger factor. Playing traditional styles is physically very difficult and demanding, a non-Aboriginal has to work extra hard to compensate for the lack of proficiency in the Aboriginal language.
I was talking to Chris about using the Aboriginal songs as a model for writing "new" music, and she made a comment that makes a lot of sense: Aboriginal language is very alliterative, which is one of the appeal of the sounds. English, on the other hand, is not. Neither is Chinese for that matter. Lakota, probably and Gaelic, maybe.
So sounds like we need to learn a foreign language just to write new music with the Aboriginal didjeridu :-)
[Ed] When I started playing the didjeridu, as with most people around me at the time, most of the recorded didjeridu music at that time was field recordings. So most of my earliest influences were traditional players from Arnhem Land. But I could never "deconstruct" the playing style, to borrow a phrase from Fred Tietjen. I was wondering, what factors led you to construct and publish the Yolgnu FAQ page?
[Richard] That's a very interesting comment. I wonder how many are in your situation. I'd think that most people, even if they learn to play early on, do not have access to the field recordings. As to your question, I can't really take credit for it. The basic chord description is from Guan Lim's page. Obviously I did not copy it verbatim, but it is his idea. Unfortunately, Guan decided to take the page down for a variety of reasons a few years ago.
From time to time, there would be flurries of posts about the traditional styles on the didjeridu list, usually after a Yothu Yindi concert or something similar :-). I think most of us who know something about the techniques were and still are in general closed mouth talking about them, mainly because we don't really know what the heck we are talking about :-)! Anyway, I figure that even though a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, a little knowledge is better than no knowledge or outright speculations. The worst that can happen is that my information is incorrect but I doubt anyone will get hurt physically by it :-) So I started making some comments, and after a few repeated (over a year or so) posts on diaphragm breathing and retroflexed tongue, I decided to just go ahead and throw up a simple "FAQ" page on the subject.
Actually, the page needs an update badly. It really needs music samples. I may extract small fragments of the field recordings for that purpose but I will need to find out copyright restrictions. Guan's page had fragments of very small samples but I can't use them without his permission. I will take contributions :-) One thing that I feel good about the page is that it may have contributed to increased participation from others who know, perhaps because they want to stop me from passing around misinformation :-) For example, your WAL page is an excellent page.
As for the "deconstruction" part, this is really important for us non-speakers of the Aboriginal languages. The Yolngu boys have singing contests to see who can sing the fastest at very young age. This must train their tongue and mouth actions far more than we can hope to accomplish by just playing the didj. For them, the retroflexed tongue must be pretty easy with as many Rs as they use.
Ultimately, if my page inspires (or provokes :-) ) other people to put up more accurate information on the net or in books, or whatever, then it will have served its purpose. Otherwise, I will just continue to update it as I learn, and hopefully one day it will become truly useful to people interested in learning these techniques.
[Ed] I feel exactly the same way about my Western Arnhem Land page, which also needs updating. Partially thanks to you. So do you think there will be continued interest in the "traditional" playing styles in the future by non-aboriginal players? We've already discussed the advantages of studying these techniques and trying to describe them, but what are the trans-cultural issues here? Do you look forward to a time when traditional players of our current generation are as available as you or I on the Internet?
[Richard] Most didjeridu players are self-taught, most likely by listening to musical recordings. Because of that, some popular western performers have greatly influenced the players - often you hear so and so has the Kent sound, or the Wiggins sound. To a much lesser degree, Aboriginal but non-traditional style players such as Hudson, Dargin, and Atkins, etc. also have an influence. If you listen to to Didjeridu Planet I and II, I think you would agree with that assessment. Rarer still are people that play the traditional styles. I have not have the opportunity to review Kenneth Sands' music yet, but possibly he and Seachnasaigh are the only two non-Aboriginal players that I am aware of that recorded something close to the traditional styles.
Overall though, there will be continued interest in the traditional styles. People will listen to Yothu Yindi music or the field recordings and some of them will pass over the initial negative reaction of repetitive sound and say, "wait a minute, this really has an interesting sound," or "wait a minute, how the heck do they do that?" Some of them will pursue the techniques, as you and I and some others have done. Obviously the right way of learning this is to go to Arnhem Land but few of us can afford the opportunity. So I am looking forward to any traditional style players available on the Internet. Actually, I would be even happier if they tour around the country and give workshops. More direct learning that way :-).
Relating to cultural issues though, a larger question hangs above us regarding cultural sensitivity. I know there are people who believe that playing the traditional styles by non-Aboriginal people is a type of cultural theft, akin to non-Aboriginal people doing Aboriginal style paintings. This is not a simple subject and is something that we need to seriously think about. For now, I will just leave it that some people think playing the didjeridu in general is a form of cultural theft, so the answer is definitely not clear cut. Obviously Blanasi has no problem teaching us Balanda to play the WAL style and Sands and Seachnasaigh seem to have obtained some sort of blessings from the Yolngu in putting out the CDs, but will the situation change if the sound is really authentic?
All of these may be moot regarding traditional players from Arnhem Land if their living situation doesn't improve. By all accounts, life is still pretty grim there. I am not "pitying" them or anything like that, but certainly I hope the land rights movement and other things move in their favor. With the new crops of didjeridu dealers, we keep hearing about how the Aboriginal communities are being benefited, but I really would love to see some proof of that. Even the current didjeridu business must be in some order of millions of dollars a year. How much of that money is going to the communities? Even from those who claim that they work with Aboriginal artists or makers, how do we know that they are telling the truth? Maybe I am pessimistic, but we all heard stories about how the didjeridu industry is benefiting just some white guys, and bits and pieces that we hear about industry just leave a bad taste in my mouth. And by all accounts, the situation will only get worse because of the 2000 Olympics.
This last point there is pretty Off-Topic from what you asked, so I will try to bring it back On-Topic by saying that for me anyway, I have always appreciated the Aboriginal people for gifting us the didjeridu. I know other cultures have produced similar instruments but those are not the instruments that I learned. Being Chinese and pagan, thanking my roots is a pretty important thing. I feel even more "indebted" since I started learning the traditional styles.