The genre of this music appeared around the early 80’s when it became popular with some people and has grown steadily  with more and more people both listening and playing didgeridoo music.  The didge is sometimes played as a solo instrument, though  it is quite often used in bands as either a groove generator, providing  a background rhythm or it may be used to provide some colour and interest to the musical production.  Solo performance requires some technical  mastery in order to perform complex rhythms whilst creating the added colour of vocal harmonics, toots and so on. Whether  played  solo or not, many years of practise are needed to be accomplished in the art of didgeridoo playing.

Didgeridoo & Its Association with Aboriginal Music

The term didgeridoo or didgeridu is only a western name given to what the Aborigines themselves call Yidaki. This is just one name among others they use.  So yidaki is a more accurate name for ‘didgeridoo’.

Aboriginal culture is very old.  It is not certain when the didgeridoo was first used but the rock art in Arnhem Land does give some evidence that it is at least two thousand years old, though it may go back much further. It seems to have evolved from the northern part of Australia, that is in the northern territory, Arnhem Land, North Queensland and the Kimberley’s. Through time it has spread to more western and southern parts of Australia.

In Aboriginal music the didgeridoo is not seen as the main ingredient nor is it used as a solo instrument. Yet it often plays a large part  in the many forms of Aboriginal music. In a typical ensemble there is the song man, the yidaki accompaniment, someone playing the clapsticks along with other possible forms of accompaniment such as with a seed rattle or hand clapping, foot stamping and an ‘sss’ sounds created through the lips. The song man is most important; he conveys, through song or chant, the meaning of whatever is being played whilst the didgeridoo and other accompaniment has to be in line with him.

The yidaki is used in their forms of song and dance and also in their sacred ceremonies. The sacred ceremonies from part of their spiritual tradition and the yidaki is often used as part of the sacred music.  It is kept secret only to the Aboriginal people and therefore is part of their musical tradition that is not on display for the public, especially the western ear. On the other hand their musical tradition  also incorporates entertainment for a broader audience, for example, dance - folk evenings - such recordings are available to the western audience (e.g. CD: Arnhem Land, Authentic Australian Aboriginal Songs & Dances, The A.P Elkin Collection, Larrikin).

Styles

There are different styles of Aboriginal music and this depends on the region and what particular clan it is.  The yidaki here takes on a sound that has particular characteristics in association with a particular clan, which usually corresponds to a certain region. Although traditional music here has become cross-polluted there are distinct styles associated with the various clans and regions, which also affect the sound of the yidaki.  The yidakis are chosen to correspond to the musical ‘style’ of a particular clan. Unlike western music, the pitch remains unimportant and is not tuned like western music is.  However, the yidaki used here is carefully chosen for its musical quality, like a Stradivarius violin.

In north east Arnhem Land, particularly with the Yolngu, the yidaki is used in a powerfully rhythmic manner utilising staccato and syncopated styles of play. Toots or hoots (overtones) are a common part of this kind of playing.  Tonal colour is provided by a certain tongue technique. Here the yidaki is selected so that its physical dimensions meet up with the playing requirements. The wood used is usually Stringybark, Blood wood or Woolybutt, which is cut down by the maker in the forest. A certain amount of tapping on each ‘tree’ can help the maker choose his potential yidaki. Yidakis often have a narrow mouthpiece and a flared distal end, whilst being in the region of 4.5-6ft long. They are conically shaped with high back pressure, which enables that particular playing style to be executed with greater ease.

The particular technique needed for this style of playing  has various elements. The drone sound here is the result of tightened lips.  Like a violin or guitar string, the lips can be tightened or loosened and this will change both tone and sound character; though in this traditional style they tend to remain more tightened. Continuous air, known as circular breathing, is pumped through the yidaki. The in breath does not necessarily form part of the rhythm.  The cheeks are drawn in and the tonal colour is created through the use of lips and tongue. In this style there is rapid tongue movement to break up the powerful drone into its staccato movement.

In the more western regions the didgeridoo is physically different to correspond to a different sound character. There are didges of all shapes and sizes here, from a narrow to a wide bore.  A wide bore didge that runs all the way up may be used for a certain style of play but it is not so good for the toot overtone, due to its lack of back pressure (this is why these are not used in North East Arnhem Land).  Vocal resonance is used with this playing style, which creates harmonics over the constant or interrupted drone. This vocal resonance or harmonics is created by humming with the vocal chords as in a certain pitch alongside the drone.  For example if the fundamental drone is F# the  vocals  may be hummed at, say C#, to created a deep vibrant vocal harmonic thus creating a rich texture in the overall sound.

Word phrasing is often used as the player blows the yidaki.  Depending on the clan and region different phrasing will be used among other stylistic variations of the player.  The phrasing which may, for example, sound like did-ero, dideri-doo, didun-doo &so on, is really determined by the local Aboriginal language. This is how the didgeridoo got its name when the European heard this fascinating sound as played by the Aborigines.  It is therefore an English term used by the European describing an Aboriginal musical instrument.

Much of the Aboriginal music reflects various stories about their past, their mythology, dreamtime and spirituality. But it is also a form of entertainment as in the west.  It also reflects various political statements at a clan level but more recently, with such groups as Yothu Yindi, the politics have been stretched to a wider audience of Australia and the west in order to make people aware about the facts of suppression and oppression of the indigenous Aborigine people who are fighting for their freedom in their land.

Contemporary Didgeridoo Music

The early eighties marked the advent of modern didgeridoo music. With players like Stephen Kent and Graham Wiggins the didgeridoo has become more accessible to the western ear. The contemporary didgeridoo has been used in various types of music and even in soundtracks of films.

Producers of movies have taken advantage of the didgeridoo sound as it can capture the mood or landscape of a particular setting.  For example, there are films that have used the didgeridoo with reference to the desert - here providing sound that conjures up the vast and baron desert environment (e.g. Mad Max - Beyond The Thunderdome, Until The End Of The World).  It is possible to create sounds like this through the didgeridoo by using a certain pitch in conjunction with a players ability to drone along with eerie tones. The didgeridoo can provide an ambient backdrop in either a musical production, film or band.

Charlie McMahon is one of the exemplars of the soundscape style  and he has also worked with bands such as Midnight Oil. He also conceived the idea of forming a band comprising the didgeridoo, synthesizers and percussion. And so Gondwanaland was formed.  His highly accomplished playing enables him to create strong overtones or multi-tonal splashes whilst also utilising rhythmic complexity.  (Ref: Karl Neuenfeldt, The didjeridu: From Arnhem land to Internet, p127.)

A contemporary playing style does not require the use of a tuned didgeridoo. However, it is no good using an untuned didge when it comes to playing with a band because western instruments are tuned. The didge needs to be tuned here according to what ‘key’ the band or guitarist etc is playing in.  For example if played in D, the didgeridoo needs to be in key of D. Tuned didges are therefore used which may be either a slide didge (plastic or other tube within another tube) or a natural wooden didge cut to the appropriate length and tuned to the correct key.  As a tuned woodwind instrument, the didge can be used in any form of music, be it rock, folk, jazz, classical, dance, atmospheric or whatever.  Here the didgeridoo may provide some backing to more main stream music.

However, the didgeridoo, in modern didge music takes a prominence in defining a particular soloist or band’s sound.  Here the genre of that music is identifiable by that particular sound. For example Alan Dargin, David Hudson, Mark Atkins, Plack & Soames, Shozo and many others have defined their music through the didgeridoo.  In shops you will find this music under World Music.  From a band point of view the didgeridoo is a great groove generator whereby it can create strong background rhythms along with percussion.  Yet these players can also play the didge as a solo instrument.  To make it interesting the player here uses a wide range of didge playing skills to create a main rhythm along with tongue movements, tonal variations, varying lip pressures, varying cheek and breathing pressures, vocal resonance /harmonics, vocal barks and so on. Circular breathing is a basic necessity and becomes natural for the advanced player.

David Hudson plays in this contemporary style but has fused it with some traditional elements. As an Aboriginal musician, he also plays the traditional style music. In his style you can hear certain word phrasing sounds such as ‘Did’ and ‘Wah’ when he is playing. He is a didgeridoo virtuoso, who plays solo and with other musicians.   His style is strong and intense.  Various vocal harmonics are used in his playing to provide rich colour whilst also using growls and guttural grunts to good effect.  In his album Yigi Yigi, the colour and tonal variation  make it very acceptable to the western ear which may have more difficulty in appreciating the aboriginal traditional music. He uses word phrasing in his rhythms with overtone hoots or toots to create and exciting sound or mood.

An aspect of the contemporary style is the use of animal mimicry.  Here, the didge is used to convey a bird call, a frog, walking lizard, the bark of a dog or whatever. Plack and Soames have used this, with great effect, in their playing.  They capture well the animal being mimicked.  This can be heard in their album Dawn Until Dusk, which provides both rhythmic playing but also that ambient backdrop of the Australian outback. In their rhythmic grooves they also use word phrasing which sounds like ‘Diddy wah’, when you hear it being played. Again their use of vocal harmonics adds colour to their music and their use of clapsticks blends well with the didgeridoo sound.

Didgeridoo music can be heard in a contemplative and relaxing manner.  Shozo, in his avant-garde style (in his album: Sounds of Breath) uses complex tones and subtle harmonics which makes for reflective listening. He fuses a wide range of elements in his music to create original tracks in an explorative way.  He blends the didgeridoo with a piano (in track 1), a bass guitar (track 2), Koranic chanting (track 3), percussion (track 6)and the sound of city traffic (track 9). In track ten he creates a hypnotic groove informing us of the power of rhythm in music.

Didgeridoo music has been explored with other world music. Sacred Elder have produced and album ( Zebadoo)where the didge has been blended with a variety of instruments such as clapsticks, djembe, jaw harp, udu and throat singing.  There is a tribal feel to the music especially the rhythmic tracks. But also the mix of didgeridoo with these instruments creates, at times, an ambient feel, at other times it presents a more rhythmic groove.  The tonal and harmonic variations of the didgeridoo here convey the feeling of this music along with the presence of chanting vocals or other instruments. It seems that this style of their music is spiritually orientated.

As time moves on, didgeridoo music, like other forms of music, is becoming more mixed with a variety of world music from Islamic chanting to the sound of Africa. It is a progressive music constantly finding new forms of expression.  Yet is has been going for thousands of years, in a timeless sense, where the spirit of the Aboriginal tradition has not been lost.

Didgeridoo Music

Traditional & Contemporary

Many people are aware of the didgeridoo through Rolf Harris, who has played it more as an instrument of fascination than as a musical instrument. However, the didgeridoo is a wind instrument generally used as part of the musical structure associated with either traditional Aboriginal music or contemporary music.

Written for college in 2003   J. Thorpe