Didgeridoo

When I was in Australia a couple of years ago, one of the items I wanted to bring back was a Didgeridoo. My friends that live in Melbourne (where I stayed), took me shopping at an Aboriginal art store. I bought a boomerang, various other knickknacks, and of course my prize possession...a beautiful Didgeridoo. I really wanted one with a Kangaroo on it, but they didn't have any. They had about 3 small ones, a couple of mediums and a couple of large ones. I thought long and hard and chose a medium sized one with burned artwork and blue and green paint. I was nervous getting it packed to go back with me on the plane, but it made it to the US safely. I moved to a new home about two years ago and made sure my Didgeridoo was not lost somewhere in my garage of hundreds of boxes. It wasn't till about a month ago that I unpacked it and was pleasantly surprised to see it had a big sea-turtle burned onto it as the animal (I had forgotten what was on it). I had plans just to hang it on the wall as decorum, but recently sent away for a Didgeridoo instructional CD.

Today, I have been practicing playing it...hey I can actually make some sound come out of it!!! I decided to look up the artist's name and some other writing on the instrument. Gheeez...what a find!!! Lewis Burns Talbragar-Wiradjuri is actually a famous Aboriginal didgeridoo craftsman & performer from Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia. I just bought his 2 CDs and a stand for my Didgeridoo.

Picture of the artist (Lewis Burns) off a cover of one of his CDs.

My instrument.

FATIMA BLUSH: Oh, how reckless of me. I made you all wet.
JAMES BOND: Yes, but my martini is still dry.

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[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2007-08-05 16:59 ]

For anyone interested, there is a Didge Fest coming up that looks awesome. The artist of my instrument will be there. :)

Jammin Tree Didgeridoo Festival August 17,18,19, 2007. I could just scream....as I will be gone to Tiki Oasis and will miss this festival which is in California. The festival will occur close to Yosemite....ARGH...that would be so fun to go to.

North Fork Community Center & Campground
33507 Recreation Road 230
North Fork , CA. 93643 USA

Vampiressrn, you like exotic collectible instruments? You might like this company:

http://larkinthemorning.com/siteindex.asp?bhcd2=1186354290

Thanks for the link Lucas...they have some very interesting instruments there. I have a good little collection going, it will take me years to learn how to play all of my instruments, but they are fun to experiment with. :)

I have a whole bunch of stuff from them, and can't really play 80% of it. Order the hardcopy catalogue! Nice pictures!

:lol: Damn glad to hear I am not the only one buying instruments that I will never master, but can only hope to play a couple of magical riffs on. Those Harmoniums from India look intriguing...might have to add one to my collection some day. :)

Oh, if you only knew what I had in my collection!!!

Of course, my latest G.A.S. (gear aquisition syndrome) is for this, the new rhodes electric piano:

http://www.rhodespiano.com/

OMG....those are nice...and Loeber and Benoit play them (sounds files were nice). When I was married (eons ago) my husband played bass (as a hobby). He had a beautiful Rickenbacker starburst....I loved that bass!!! Long story short...one time he bought a Fender-Rhodes keyboard just for us to play around on. It had a very nice sound, very full-bodied clean notes. We eventually sold it as we didn't play it much...wish I had it now. :) How much do one of the Rhodes cost????? Looks like a bankroll project.

I am thinking around 5 grand. That's what I heard. However, the sound is like nothing else. The coolest thing is, unless you own one of the older ones (they stopped making them in the early 80s, I think) they have not created any new models in 25 years! All you can find are sample based digital keyboards, but no matter how good, they never capture the nuances or visceral feel of the real thing. For anyone who does not know, a Fender Rhodes piano is an acoustic-electrical instrument consisting of a regular hammer-action keyboard striking metal 'tuning forks'. This gives it a celeste style tone acoustically, but since there are pick-ups under each tone bar, the sounds you can make transcends the original tone in a huge way. Some early pioneers on this instrument were Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul and herbert Hancock, but of course this instrument was used on countless records by so many artists. it's a signature sound, much like the Hammond organ, Wurlitzer electric piano (used on many supertramp songs) or the Hohner Clavinet (Zep's "trampled under foot" or Stevie Wonder's "superstition".)

As you can tell, I am pretty fascinated by non-digital keyboards!!

If you like the diggery, check out "Wicked Tinkers" They really do the primative thing well. (Mised with drums pipes, and screams)

Thanks G....will do. :)

Hey Lucas, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain the keyboard workings...I never knew that (I'm sure my ex did)...now I know why that Fender Rhodes sounded so damned good. OK...ouch, that price tag is about what I figured, so won't be buying that. :( I am going to get some kind of a keyboard though...but plenty of time to figure out what will be best to match up with my little musical collection.

I saw the Martini Kings at Oasis...WOW...maybe in 10 years I will be able to play my Vibes like that. :lol:

The wicked Tinkers are playing this weekend at the Pleasanton Highland games...
for info:
http://www.caledonian.org/games.html