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Making A Yidaki In Arnhemland
Last Updated: 10/01/2009
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During a recent visit to Arnhem Land (Yirrkala, Nhulunbuy, Ski Beach),
we had the privilege of spending time with Djalu Gurruwiwi and his
family (Djalu is a senior member of the Galpu skin clan, Yolngu people
and an internationally renown didgeridoo maker and player).
During the visit we helped in the collection of didgeridoos, deep
in the Arnhem Land bush. We went out on a 32 degree day, 100% humidity
and it took 6 of us, 5 hours to collect 5 didgeridoo tree trunks. Quick
math tells us that each didgeridoo took 6 man hours in challenging
conditions to collect. We now struggle to open our ears to anybody who
complains about a $300 dollar didgeridoo price tag being too expensive!
During the collection the family would walk and walk and walk
deeper into the rugged bush, peeling back a little bark of suitable
diameter trees, then they would flick the trunk, listening for the
right hollow sound. It looked pretty easy so I had a go. Sure that I
had found the ultimate yidaki (Yolngu name for the didgeridoo) tree I
was encouraged to start cutting to see if I was right. Well quite a few
minutes of sawing with the world's bluntest hand saw, it soon became
obvious that my tree was untouched by termites and I'm sure partially
made of concrete! So I left the tree flicking to the experts. Dopiya,
Djalu's wife was incredibly accurate in her tree selection. She could
pick them from a mile away. I know it was a mile because I had to carry
the trees she selected back to the 4WD, and in that heat I remember
every step of the way!
Before the log gained approval to be made into an instrument, small
saplings and sticks were broken off at the cut site and used to poke
out the termite residue from within the hollow of the tree. This
required a little time and an aggressive poking action, along with
banging the log onto another log to dislodge any bits and pieces from
within the potential yidaki. Once satisfied that most of the loose bits
were gone the log would be played, bark and all, to test the
instrumental qualities. I'm about 30 years younger than Djalu and
Dopiya but there is no way I could have produced the power they did as
they played those logs. I was just (and still am) so in awe of them
both!
From the collection area we headed back to Ski Beach and began the
making process (day 2). Using a few different size machetes and blades,
the outer log was shaped into a yidaki. I guess the initial chunky
carving process was at least a few hours per log (very hard sweat
producing hours). We ran out of time to actually do the final shaping
of the instruments. The logs that were chosen were all a decent size,
and the size of the bell is the size of the whole log, so there was a
lot of scraping to do to shape up the mouthpiece end in particular.
Before the outside shaping there was of course the tuning, this
required cutting (with the ever famous blunt hand saw) the end of the
didgeridoo down, in 2 to 5 centimeter lots, until the didgeridoo gave
the right sound.
So after two days, between 5 of us, we didn't manage to actually
complete one whole yidaki. There is nothing easy about making a
didgeridoo. Yet the joy and satisfaction about being a part of the
making process was and is a blessing. Thank you.
So if you have a didgeridoo from the far north then you can be sure
that a lot of sweat and hard work has gone into it. And if you select a
didgeridoo from us you can be sure that you will get a great instrument
that has been collected right and made right. We constantly spend time
in the Top End of Australia working alongside different makers and
artists, learning and appreciating their techniques, to ensure the
didgeridoos we select are of the highest quality. You will receive only
the best from us.
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