Wooden drone pipe played with varying techniques in a number of Australian Aboriginal cultures. Often regarded as a pan-Aboriginal instrument, the didjeridu is probably indigenous only to certain cultural areas lying along the north coast of Australia, especially in Arnhem Land and other areas in the ‘Top End’ of the Northern Territory. A number of didjeridu-playing cultures in immediately adjacent areas (e.g. the Kimberleys) have received didjeridu-accompanied song genres from their Top End neighbours.
STEVEN KNOPOFF
Aboriginal mythology regards the didjeridu as a Dreamtime creation, while the historical origin of the instrument is uncertain. The earliest known depictions of the instrument in rock art suggest that its use might date back only to about 1000 ce, though some of the song genres which the didjeridu now accompanies clearly originate from a much earlier period.
The didjeridu is called by different names in the various cultures that use the instrument. One name for the instrument coined by the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land, yidaki, has found widespread use owing to the success of the Yolngu rock band Yothu Yindi. Moyle suggests that the onomatopoeic English name ‘didjeridu’ may have been inspired by some of the sounds produced by the instrument in western Arnhem Land.
Didjeridus from Arnhem Land are wooden tubes with roughly conical bores fashioned from the termite-hollowed trunks or branches of any of a number of trees including stringybark (Eucalyptus tetradonta), woollybutt (Eucalyptus miniata) and red river gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis). Traditional instruments may vary in length and diameter, but those commonly used in public performances range from about 1 to 1·5 metres long with internal bore sizes of 3 to 5·5 cm at the proximal end (the ‘mouthpiece’) and 5·5 to 8 cm (or larger) at the distal end. The lengths of instruments from western Arnhem Land tend to be shorter than those of northeast Arnhem Land.
After first removing an appropriately-sized portion of the tree's trunk or branch, the instrument maker peels the bark off, next cutting away the outer layers of wood in order to produce a desirably ‘light’ sound (see illustration). A knife is used to smooth out the inner surface of the blowing end. In some areas it is common to apply beeswax to the blowing end, both for comfort and to create a better seal. Decorative painting of the instrument (either in solid colours or in totemic-based designs) is an essential finishing touch for instruments intended for sale to outsiders, but instruments used in traditional performance are frequently unadorned.
The didjeridu is capable of producing a blown fundamental pitch as well as several harmonics above the fundamental. In practice, however, only the fundamental or the fundamental and first overtone are used. The fundamental pitch of Arnhem Land didjeridus varies from about B' to G. In regions where the overtone is used, the interval forming between the two blown pitches is contingent on the exact dimensions of the instrument. In northeast Arnhem Land this interval often falls within the range of a 10th, but can vary anywhere from a slightly stretched octave to an 11th.
The use of specific playing techniques varies according to regional (as well as individual) style; however, the instrument is always used as a rhythmic drone marked by three distinctive features. The first of these is the production of a distinctively buzzy, formant-rich tone quality. Acoustical investigation has suggested that this characteristic timbre is not as dependent upon details of the instrument's design as upon the player's embouchure and basic blowing technique. Given a reasonably clear, conical bore and ‘mouthpiece’ diameter of sufficient size, the formant-rich sound is produced by a combination of high-amplitude, non-sinusoidal lip oscillation and high-frequency vocal tract resonance effected by the formation of a small cavity behind the teeth with the tongue.
The second ubiquitous feature of traditional performance is the technique of circular breathing, in which the player reserves small amounts of air in the cheeks or mouth while blowing. This allows the player to snatch frequent small breaths through the nose while simultaneously continuing the drone pitch by expelling the reserved air. The third idiomatic feature of traditional performance is that the drone is given rhythmic impetus through varying combination of three types of movement: patterned movement of the diaphragm, which occurs with each quick inspiration/expiration of air and tends to result in a slight, momentary rise in the blown pitch and increase of volume; rhythmic manipulation of the oral cavity by movement of the tongue, cheeks and/or throat; and rhythmic addition of vocal chord resonance or singing on top of the blown pitch, resulting in complexes of sum and difference frequencies. Each of these basic features of didjeridu performance contributes to sounds that challenge the distinctions between the traditional Western music-perceptual categories of rhythm, pitch and timbre.
Different regional-cultural traditions involve different combinations of these techniques. The Liverpool river serves as a rough dividing line between two different approaches to performance. Performance associated with cultures to the west of the Liverpool river is characterised by use of only the blown fundamental and by a regular correspondence between the didjeridu's fundamental and the singer's tonic. The rhythmic exploitation of added vocal resonance is especially prominent in this region.
By contrast, styles originating east of the Liverpool river are characterised by use of two blown pitches (the fundamental and the first overtone) and by a lack of a consistent tonal/structural correspondence between either of the didjeridu's two pitches and the singer's pitches (suggesting that the didjeridu's two blown pitches are perceived simply as ‘low’ and ‘high’ sounds).
The use of blown overtones and vocal sounds east of the Liverpool river can be further subdivided along regional lines. Performances in northeast Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt are marked by use of both a relatively long ‘hooted’ overtone and a very subtly articulated ‘lightly spat overtone’; by either simple or complex alterations between the two blown pitches; and by use of loud vocal shrieks and vocal imitations of various bird and animal sounds. In north central Arnhem Land, by contrast, the overtone pitch is produced only as a relatively long ‘hoot’; rhythmic patterns forming from the alteration of the fundamental and overtones are fairly simple; and players generally do not make use of vocal shrieks or imitations of animal sounds.
In traditional contexts, the didjeridu is especially associated with public ceremonial genres such as the clan-owned manikay (bunggul) of northeastern and north central Arnhem Land, and the individually owned wangga and gunborgg (lirrga) of western Arnhem Land. These songs may be performed both at religious and secular occasions. Didjeridu also plays a major role in the purely recreational djatpangarri of northeast Arnhem Land. The instrument is specifically excluded from the madayin sacred genre of northeast Arnhem Land, but an unusually long (2m) version of the instrument plays an important representational role at certain points within djungguwan, a sacred regional genre of Eastern Arnhem Land.
In ceremonial contexts, the didjeridu is nearly always an accompanying instrument. It is played by a single male accompanying one or more male singers who also play pairs of hard wood clapsticks. In a number of genres the performance may also include dancing by women and/or men. The commensurate skills of many traditional players are well-appreciated within the community, but it is the song leader (ideally a well-respected elder male) who controls the choice of song subject, particular clapstick patterns, and (at times) specific rhythms to be used by the didjeridu player.
Players may perform either sitting or standing, the latter often occurring during processional movement of all performers from one place to another. Sitting postures vary in accordance with both regional and personal preferences. In western Arnhem Land, the shorter instruments are often supported on one foot or held just above the ground. In northeast Arnhem Land, the distal end is often laid directly on the ground or is placed in an external resonator to reflect the sound back to the player. Formerly a large conch shell provided the preferred resonator; though now any of a number of ‘found objects’ such as buckets or plastic food chests may be used for this purpose. Players sometimes keep time by tapping a fingernail or other object against the side of the instrument.
The didjeridu player's role in performance extends well beyond the supply of a constant drone. In many instances, the didjeridu rhythms provide the primary sense of ‘groove’ upon which other performers dance and sing. In central and eastern Arnhem Land the didjeridu player also has an important cueing role for the benefit of other performers, signalling changes of tempo and clapstick patterns within verses and also the point near the end of the verse where the clapsticks and didjeridu come to a coordinated halt. Many of the didjeridu's rhythms are formed by mouthing (and/or vocalizing) patterns of vocables. Spoken versions of these same vocables are used for explanatory or pedagogical purposes between didjeridu players or between a song leader and his accompanist.
There is no formal system of musical instruction in Arnhem Land. Young children play on small-scale instruments. In northeast Arnhem Land, boys nearing performing age practice both traditional patterns they have memorized and new patterns of their own making. They accompany young would-be singers and play in informal technical duels with other young didjeridu players. Talented performers may begin to play in ceremonies as teenagers; due to the physical demands of playing the instrument for several hours at a stretch, most of the better players are young men. Sheer technical ability and physical endurance aside, the true mark of the virtuoso players is their ability to memorize a very large number of rhythmic patterns and to know when to use each in accordance with the demands of particular performance contexts, song subjects, clapstick patterns and individual song leaders' aesthetic tastes.
Even within the constraints of the didjeridu's accompaniment role and in the generally conservative traditions of Arnhem Land performance there is room for innovation in the form of new rhythmic patterns and contemporary styles of vocal/didjeridu counterpoint. In northeast Arnhem Land such innovative tendencies are especially prominent in (though not limited to) the performance of yuta manikay (‘newsong verse’), a type of contemporary re-composition of ancient songs which is incorporated within traditional ceremonial performance practice. In certain cases, contemporary styles of playing may embody influences from Western popular musics, though in ways which have not altered the basic function of the instrument within the vocal and choreographic ensemble.
In the very few Arnhem Land ceremonial contexts where women sing, the didjeridu is not used. The prohibition against women playing in ceremony seems to be based on social custom more than specific ancestral laws, although there are stories which account for this proscription within traditional culture. In a number of didjeridu-playing cultures women have (increasingly in recent years) played the instrument in accompanying non-ceremonial songs at informal social performances. A number of women are also active in the construction (and test-playing) of didjeridus intended for sale.
The widespread dissemination of didjeridu performances on record, CD and film have led to the perception (and use) of its idiomatic sound as an easily recognizable icon of Aboriginal Australia. While some of these sounds derive from traditional sources, an ever-increasing proportion derives from non-traditional performance by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal players alike, both within and outside Australia.
Over the past two generations contemporary bands which use didjeridu have been found in most of the larger settlements in Arnhem Land. Most successful of these has been the Yirrakala-based band Yothu Yindi, who during the 1990s have conducted frequent international tours and achieved considerable airplay both in Australia and abroad. One of this band's accommodations to Western pop aesthetics has been to tune their didjeridus to the tonic of the guitars and vocals; another has been to ensure that use of the blown overtone does not conflict with the sounds of deep-toned instruments such as the bass guitar. Traditional vocal shrieks are used, but usually in service of rhythmic patterns familiar to Western audiences (e.g. a standard Latin clave rhythm).
The didjeridu has also been taken up by Aboriginal performers across all of Australia, both in rock bands and in contemporary solo contexts, and this has served to legitimize the perception of the instrument as a pan-Aboriginal cultural symbol. Use of the instrument as a pan-Australian icon may be seen in its performance by a large number of contemporary non-Aboriginal Australian musicians. The instrument has also been used in chamber works by a number of contemporary Australian composers. To the extent that performance of these works often involves participation of Aboriginal didjeridu virtuoso players, there has been (in addition to the use of the instrument's unique sounds and iconicity) a desire for collaboration and/or reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
On a global level the didjeridu has found significant use in culturally hybrid ‘world music’ groups, in new age performance (both in aesthetic-orientated and healing-orientated contexts) and in neo-tribal didjeridu circles that have sprung up in many urban areas. Most non-Aboriginal uses of the instrument (and virtually all new age examples) use adaptations of the drone-only technique associated with western Arnhem Land. Some non-Aboriginal players have made serious studies of traditional technique and rhythms; most, however, have adapted the basic tone quality and circular breathing technique while otherwise applying rhythms, techniques and aesthetics which are unrelated to traditional Aboriginal performance. Some of the more utopian and mystical notions associated with the didjeridu in new age and other global contexts have little to do with conceptions of the instrument in traditional Aboriginal societies. Nonetheless, in many non-Aboriginal didjeridu performance practices, a prominent focus is ascribed to the ancient Aboriginal origin of the didjeridu, perhaps simultaneously out of respect for the instrument and as a way of bolstering the impression of ‘authenticity’ or spiritual value of the non-Aboriginal performer's activities.
GEWM, ix (‘Didjeridus of Australia’; A. Marett)
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K. Neuenfeldt: ‘The Essentialistic, the Exotic, the Equivocal and the Absurd: the Cultural Production and Use of the Didjeridu in World Music’, Perfect Beat, ii/1 (1994), 88–104
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K. Neuenfeldt ed: The Didjeridu: from Arnhem Land to Internet (Sydney, 1997) [incl. P. Dunbar-Hall: ‘Continuation, Dissemination and Innovation: The Didjeridu and Contemporary Aboriginal Popular Music Groups’, 69–88; L. Barwick: ‘Gender “Taboos” and Didjeridus’, 89–98; S. Knopoff: ‘Accompanying the Dreaming: Determinants of Didjeridu Style in Traditional and Popular Yolngu Song’, 39–67; P. Sherwood: ‘The Didjeridu and Alternative Lifestylers' Reconstruction of Social Reality’, 139–53; F. Magowan: ‘Out of Time Out of Place: a Comparison of Applications of the Didjeridu in Aboriginal Australia, Great Britain and Ireland’, 161–83]
K. Neuenfeldt: ‘Good Vibrations? The “Curious” Cases of the Diderjidu in Spectacle and Therapy in Australia’, World of Music, i1/2 (1998), 29–52