From tree to tree

... I ran during our lunch breaks and during our excursions too and knocked at each eucalyptus tree. I am eager to build a Yidaki myself. Only few people know it under this name, a more familiar word is Didgeridoo. Although, the Aboriginal have many different names for the maybe oldest musical instrument on earth: Yiraka, Garnbak, Iljirra, Arawirr, Martba - just to name some of them.

At the beginning I did'nt know at all how to build such a didgeridoo or find its material. Then an Aboriginal gave me some tips about it: In order to detect a trunk perfectly hollowed by termites you should look for small termite mounds at the roots of the tree. If the leaves of the eucalyptus have white colored tips, knock at the trunk and test if it is hollow.

Well, now I have found such an eucalyptus trunk and try to chop it down with the saw of my jackknife. However, no matter how hard I try, it doesn't work - the wood is much too hard. Disappointed I go back to our shady rest place.

I convince Birgit - who doesn't share my passion for didgeridoos - to buy a good wood saw and thus can hardly wait till we reach the next town. There at the DIY store however the shop assistant tells us that a chainsaw is necessary for this kind of hardwood. Since chainsaws are not only expensive but also much too bulky and heavy, I don't get a saw for my tree.


In Adelaide, the capital of Southern Australia, I buy a bamboo didgeridoo, which doesn't sound as well as the ones hollowed by termites. But it has the advantage for us cyclists to be very lightweight and low-priced. And it suffices for the learning of Circular Breathing - a respiration technique, which is the hard thing to learn when trying to play a didgeridoo. It means that you have to draw breath through the nose and play at the same time so that the tone is never interrupted.

Now I train this special breath technique all the time, but I don't have a clue how it is supposed to work. How to play different notes, I find out really soon, but I have to depose the instrument again and again to take a breath. And nobody can explain to me how I could learn this Circular Breathing.

Birgit cannot hear it anymore at all when I start to practice playing. Most of all she is annoyed with my enthusiasm for this instrument when we are in larger cities with souvenir shops. There I spend most of my time searching for the perfect didgeridoo (since I want to have one for at home) instead of sightseeing. Especially in Cairns the offer is really large. In some of the shops they offer free teaching hours. Of course I accept this offer and finally I receive some tricks for the correct breath technique. At last the Circular Breathing works out!!! I come to know more about the original meaning of the didgeridoo too. The Aboriginal initially used it for communication - e.g. for telling their stories. My teacher - Aboriginal himself - also shows me some examples for such stories.

In spite of my euphoria, to be able to play correct at last, I do not buy a didgeridoo in Cairns for at home, because somehow despite the great selection none does fit my imagination.

Not until Katherine, short from the end of our journey, I discover it. Most of the didgeridoos here come from Arnhem Land, therefore they are - unlike a lot we've seen at the eastern coast - truly painted by Aboriginal. Here I like so many of them, that I can't decide at all. Since Birgit is already more than impatient in the meantime, I finally buy three didgeridoos and send them home per post.


My dream of a self-built didgeridoo still comes true at the end of our trip in Darwin. Here we meet some guys with whom we spend a lot of time the next days. Then it turns out that they build didgeridoos - one of their cars is fully loaded with awesome, perfectly hollowed trunks. Now I only have to peel of the bark and hone the trunks until I have blisters on my hands, and at last I am the owner of two self-built Yidakis. That's enough for the beginning.

geschrieben von: Martin
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