Didjeridoo: The Australian Aboriginal Music

various artists compilation - Didjeridoo: The Australian Aboriginal Music

recorded in 1969; released in 1996 on CD

recorded by Dr. Miroslav Prokopec on HUER Tape Recorder

Folk music of the people of Arnhem county
Authentic documentary recordings from the North Australia region

Arnhem Land is a peninsula in north-eastern Northern Territory with an area of about 37,000 square miles (95,900 square kilometres), extending from Van Dieman Gulf southeastward to the Gulf of Carpentaria and Groote Eylandt; it includes a largely tropical plateau lying between the Roper and Victoria rivers. The name Arnhem Land is now used primarily for the large Aboriginal reserve (80,000 square kilometres) founded in 1931 in the eastern part of the peninsula to avoid undesirable pressure from Europeans on the native inhabitants. The northeast coast was visited in 1623 by the Dutch explorer Jan Cartensz, who named the region after his ship, Arnhem (Aernem). Arnhem Land remained the last refuge of the natives, who were expelled from all the other parts of the country.
They lived there until World War II, basically untouched by outside influences, apart from that of missionaries, the presence of military guards, and the regular visits of fishermen from Macassar who came there in search of trepang (sea cucumber). From the latter they learned to use metal knives, axes and points and how to make dugout canoes. When 500,000 soldiers built an airport in the north and the Stuart Highway from Darwin to Alice Springs after the Japanese air-raid on Darwin in 1942, many of the natives helped them as hired labourers. Their families followed them. They got to know both the positive and negative aspects of a contact with Europeans that soon resulted in a fast decline of native traditional life. Many of them caught European diseases and the concentration of many people on one spot made contagion worse. The patients needed long-term treatment and it was also necessary to continue the children's schooling; the latter began to attend mobile schools. The governmental habitations were built in reservations which also included school farms and cattle-breeding stations in which the natives were to learn the basics of agricultural production and animal rearing, as well as crafts necessary for the construction and maintenance of the habitations. Some of the Aboriginals took permanent jobs at that time as stockmen in the cattle-breeding stations.
The way of life of most of the Aboriginals in Arnhem Land is now somewhere between their original traditions and the European model. Their traditions are nevertheless still deeply rooted. Arnhem Land is hot and rough, with a large seasonal humidity fluctuation which modifies the character of the vegetation and the landscape itself. The central part of the region is rocky. Disintegrated and delapidated rocks on the edges of a rocky table and on the hillsides of valleys create countless cracks, caves, shelters (abris) and ledges, often with smooth walls and level ceilings. Many of them served as hiding places for the natives during the rainy season and for ritual gatherings. Pictures of people, animals and mythical beings are often painted or engraved on the walls.
...
A typical musical instrument in Arnhem Land is the DIDJERIDOO: a wind instrument consisting of a slightly conical wooden tube about 150 centimetres long, made from a long, hollow eucalyptus branch, the centre of which has been eaten away by termites. The walls of the tube are about a centimetre thick. A rim of beeswax or eucalyptus gum may be fitted to the narrower mouth end (5 to 7 cm in diameter), while the broader end (10 to 15 cm in diameter) is usually rested the toes of the outstretched legs as the musician plays. It is important that the walls of the tube should not be cracked, as it has to resonate the sounds produced by the musician's throat. The musician does not play the didjeridoo, he "draws" it - quite a realistic expression, since the stream of air pulsates but is not interrupted, except for a split second when the musician takes his breath. The sound is polyphonous, resembling the sound of an organ or a harmonium. The didjeridoo also plays an important part in rituals: during the rain evocation ritual, for instance, or in the kunapipi cult, where it symbolizes the womb of the Mother Originator.
...
The leading songman must have a good voice, of course, but he must also have a wide musical culture, the result of his years of apprenticeship with his father or his uncle. Sometimes a singer can name as many as twenty of his predecessors. He inherits their songs and he is also the owner of the songs he has composed himself. Anybody else who wishes to use them must "pay" him - which usually means the granting of certain benefits. The songman is popular and, if he wanted, he could make a living from his art.
...
The recordings were made during a scientific expedition to Australia by a Czechoslovak team in 1969. Its aim was to meet a Rembarranga tribe whose territory lies in the heart of Arnhem Land in the neighbourhood of a Bulman water reservoir near Mt Cat. During four months of daily contact with the natives we had several opportunites to join them at a camp corroboree or sit with them round the fire and watch them singing and dancing. (Mary Pardoe)

Tracklisting:

1. men from Port Keats - The Chant of the Port Keats Men {10:09}

2. Joshup Manigan - Maribata Aborigine Language {2:09}

3. group of old men from Bathurst and Melville islands - Chants of the Old Men from Bathurst Island {1:47}

4. [unknown artist] - Chants from Mainor {3:40}

5. Jack Chadum and Ronnie Bamyili - Jack Chadum Sing With His Brother Ronnie Bamyili {5:32}

6. [unknown artist] - Music from Korobori {8:03}

7. Remaranka Tribe - Chants of the Remaranka Tribe {6:36}

8. Rittarunga Tribe - Chants of the Rittarunga Tribe {6:48}

(1)