In review--Didgeridoo where are you?

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Dream Time
The Didgeridoo of the Australian Aborigines
Arc Music (2010)

Want to get your root and sacral chakras open?  Listen to didgeridoo, a percussive-wind instrument made from eucalyptus trees hollowed out by termites.  More than likely, if you listen to global indigenous, new age, or world music, you have come across didgeridoos.  The players mastered circular breathing as they blow into the tubular instrument, often decorated with Australian Aborigines symbols (Dream Time).  Face it, this is an instrument with indigenous mysticism attached to it, but it is an almost rare occasion that you hear Aborigines music played on the didgeridoo in context and by performed by Aborigines musicians.  Dream Time opens a window to music of the Australian bush.  And listeners also get exposed to traditional vocals, percussion, and dance rhythms.

So what does this music sound like?  The stickman-vocalist pounds out quick rhythms on a clave-like (hollowed out wood sticks banged together) instrument and he sings in a shouting manner with the drone of the didgeridoo creating a trance rhythm.  The album features several duos (a stickman/vocalist and didgeridoo player) in the Wongga dance style and vocal and percussive music called Djunba which features no didgeridoo, but several singers and percussion.  For listeners used to hearing more melodic didgeridoo recordings, Dream Time will sound more like a field recording in which it was intended.  However, for anyone learning didgeridoo or just fascinated with the instrument, this authentic recording could provide a learning experience.  Personally, I enjoy field recordings for educational purposes and I’m curious about the original intent and purpose of ancient instruments.  If you have a similar musical mission, then pick up this recording.

http://www.arcmusic.co.uk

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