What is a yidaki?
Yidaki is the Yolngu name for the didgeridoo. The Yolngu are the Aboriginal people of north-east Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory, and today "a yidaki" usually means a traditional didgeridoo made there by a Yolngu maker.
Yidaki vs didgeridoo: what is the difference?
Every yidaki is a didgeridoo, but not every didgeridoo is a yidaki.
The word "didgeridoo" is a western word given to the instrument around 100 years ago. It can be spelt many different ways, none of which are Aboriginal names for the instrument. Each Aboriginal language group has its own name, and yidaki is the Yolngu one.
| Yidaki | Didgeridoo | |
|---|---|---|
| The word | The Yolngu name, from Arnhem Land | A western name used worldwide for the instrument |
| Who makes it | Yolngu makers in Arnhem Land | Makers all over Australia and the world |
| What it is made from | A tree trunk hollowed by termites, collected in the Arnhem Land bush | Termite-hollowed eucalyptus, and today also PVC, agave, glass and many other materials |
| Our price range | $1,380 to $1,800 AUD | $120 to $2,999 AUD |
What does yidaki mean, and how do you say it?
Yidaki is said roughly "yid-ah-kee".
According to Prof Trevor Jones of Monash University there are at least 45 different names for the didgeridoo. In his list yidaki sits with close relatives such as yiraki and jiragi, words that mean "bamboo", which may reflect instruments once made from bamboo.
Other Arnhem Land languages use other words. In the Maningrida region the Kunwinjku, Kune and Kuninjku name is mako, pronounced "margo". You can read more in Aboriginal names for the didgeridoo.
How is a yidaki made?
We have had the privilege of spending time in Arnhem Land with a senior Yolngu yidaki maker and his family, and helping to collect the trees. This is what we saw.
- The family walk deep into the bush, peel back a little bark on trees of the right diameter and flick the trunk, listening for the right hollow sound.
- The chosen trunk is cut, and saplings and sticks are used to poke out the termite residue from inside the hollow.
- The log is played, bark and all, to test it as an instrument before it is approved.
- Back at camp the outer log is shaped with machetes and blades. The bell is the size of the whole log, so most of the scraping is at the mouthpiece end.
- The yidaki is tuned by cutting the end down, 2 to 5 centimetres at a time, until it gives the right sound.
We went out on a 32 degree day, 100% humidity and it took 6 of us, 5 hours to collect 5 didgeridoo tree trunks. 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.
The full story is in Making a yidaki in Arnhem Land.
The yidaki we sell
Our yidaki come from Arnhem Land and each one carries its maker's name, including Marikuku Wirrpanda and Dhapa Ganambarr. They are priced from $1,380 to $1,800 AUD, and every listing has a recording of that exact yidaki being played.
Artwork on a traditional yidaki is ochre, applied with a chewed grass brush.
See the traditional Arnhem Land yidaki and mago we have in stock, or read how much a didgeridoo costs to see how they compare with the rest of the range.
Looking after a yidaki
Traditional yidaki were very recently living trees, and wood will shift. A new yidaki has travelled a long way from a very different climate and will be sensitive to change.
We recommend keeping your playing to just 5 to 10 minutes per day for the first week or so, then building up from there. The full guide is in How to stop my yidaki cracking.
New to the instrument?
Start with What is a didgeridoo?, which has a short video and 13 didgeridoo facts, or the Didgeridoo Buyers Guide.