A newsletter for the Portland area Didjeridu player......January  2000 Volume 6 Issue 1

The World Wide Web of Didj

by Ed Drury

 Hey, we're in the 21 Century and while Y2K bugs may yet surface, the transition thus far has mostly been focused in an optimistic direction. In the same spirit, I wanted to write an article which focused on some really great web sites. We're going to tour the web in this article which will review some of what I think are the best of what is out there for didjeridu players as resources and entertainment. To include all the fine web sites and pages available would be a massive undertaking. To even touch on all my personal favorites would require pages and pages. So what I've decided to do was focus on some really important ones which I hold as my personal gold standard. I decided to go through each category of my list of links and focus on just a couple of important ones. A list of links to the sites will appear at the end of the article so I hope you won't go surfing until you've read my piece.

 I'd like to start with some sites which have been around for quite sometime and are still amongst the best. The first would belong to the Aboriginal rock band Yothu Yindi. Not only a great band, but a valuable resource as cultural ambassadors for the Yolgnu. On their web site, you can learn about the band, the culture, follow their tour schedule, purchase recordings and chat. Yothu Yindi on the Web is a must stop on our voyage through didjeridu cyberspace and a logical first stop. Another old and great site is associated with the Didjeridu Digest at Mills. The Dreamtime WWW Server was originally a project of then list member Sean Borman. Evidence of his vision and style are still present, but for some time now it has been developing under the watchful eye of Toyoji Tomita. Housed there are the archives of the Didjeridu Digest, Toyoji's marvelous gift to the community of didjeridu players around the world, instructional information, a wealth of user contributed material on making didjeridus, a calendar of didjeridu events and an invaluable database of players around the world with contact information and bios. Of special note on this site is also the Frequently Asked Questions file maintained by Kevin Polley. The history of this site could be a worthy subject for a book and it's importance to us can not be overstated. The contributors and influence of it is beyond the scope of a simple article, to speak to this issue I can only urge you to click on "Credit is given where credit is due".

 When you run a web site you get a certain number of people who find you through a search engine. You  get another group of people through referrals. A great number of people who find my web site today come through the site of an old friend, Mark Temple. What is of interest here is a great section of music reviews which contains a descriptive code key and some useful comments about a variety of didjeridu recordings. Also is a section on meditation which players interested in using the didjeridu as an adjunct to sound meditation will find interesting. For sound samples, thought provoking articles and diverse interests try Dave Crowder's didjeridu page. Dave is an awesome player who is constantly traveling and interacting with all kinds of musicians. In his pages are movie and audio samples which are entertaining and quite educational.

 Reading all those liner notes to field recordings is hard when you don't have a clue as to how to pronounce Aboriginal words. A guide to pronouncing Aboriginal names would be very useful. This is just one of the many "details" which you'll find on Peter Lister's home page. You will also find information on traditional knowledge, traditional instrument making, playing styles and musical notation of traditional music. Peter's bibliography page is like having a research assistant on-line and students thinking about any term paper dealing with Aboriginal music, art, bush craft or botany  would do well to spend a brain storming session there. Peter's presentation is accurate, thoughtful and contains the insightful respect one would expect from a player who's contact with the instrument dates back to the seventies.

 While on the subject of field recordings and documentation of contact with music, art and culture - it is very worthwhile to book mark a couple of sites. First the AIATSIS site which contains a wealth of information on these subject as well as being an authoritative source for recordings by Moyle, West, Elkin and many other early investigators through to the present day. To gain an appreciation for the issues surrounding intellectual property rights, bookmark also The House of Aboriginality. Here you can learn some shocking truths about the extent of the exploitation and misrepresentation of the Aboriginal culture for profit.

  Adding to your collection  of bookmarks, there are a couple of newer sites to watch closely. The newest on my short list is www.didjeridu.com , home of the wicked sticks gallery. Not only is there an impressive collection of great sticks to drool over and dream about, but there is one of the most diverse and authoritative collections of articles on the subject of didjeridu playing to be found anywhere on the internet. An awesome collection of yirdaki, artifacts and information can be found at http://members.xoom.com/ramingining/yirdaki.html.

 For the unusual, bizarre and sometimes irreverent, you can't top  Peter Spoecker, the man or his extensive site at www.didgeridoings.com. Peter has a catalog of recordings and video which he has produce, journals about his travels in Australia, tutorials and extensive information on making unusual instruments. There is also extensive information on the art of recording, mixing and producing.

 This has been a brief tour, indeed. There are hundreds of fascinating sites primarily devoted to the didjeridu. I've tried to limit the number of commercial sites mentioned and focus more on the personal. While I am constantly trying to keep my links pages current and updated, great new ones are always appearing and current ones change URLs or blink off line. If this brief tour causes even one reader to explore the web further to try and get a feel for all that's out there, it has been worth. I always need help in maintaining my lists, so I would be most appreciative if you visit my links page at http://www.rdrop.com/~mulara/didjmarks.html and report any dead links or omissions on my part to me.

Review of links in this article
http://www.rdrop.com/~mulara/didjmarks.html  My links pages.
Yothu Yindi Yothu Yindi Rock Band
Didjeridu Digest The Famous Didjeridu Digest Listserver
Frequently Asked Questions Frequently Asked Questions from the Digest
Mark Temple Mark's informative didgeridoo page
Dave Crowder Really great sounds and movies
Peter Lister Focus on things not generally found elsewhere
AIATSIS Aboriginal Studies, extensive resource page
The House of Aboriginality Concerns about intellectual property rights
www.didjeridu.com Wicked Sticks and great articles
http://members.xoom.com/ramingining/yirdaki.html Brilliant display of rare instruments
Peter Spoecker Contemporary, eclectic and fun

  Questions about this or other articles in this series can be directed to Ed Drury

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