iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

Well, here's a question for everyone... who do you reckon made this amazing mago? It is from the Top End of course.

It has a beautifully flared shape and is decorated in earth pigments with some unusual colours as a result of mixing different ochres together.

Will be interesting to see what we come up with here...

Guan

Interesting question. The pigments and linework make me think it's a Port Keats (or similar area) stick, perhaps by Nim Bandak or one of the other noted artists of the area although the stylistic rendering of the snakes reminds me of some of the older barks from Oenpelli that used rather strange pigment mixes including a very greenish yellow.

I'll be interested in finding out the answer!

Regardless who made it, that's a beaut! Any idea what the age is?

I do see some similarities to the older Oenpelli barks, especially in those interesting pigments.

Jason

Here's a close-up as a clue...

Guan

Hi everybody,
I am more curious to know how it sounds..
Can we hear a short and dirty sample Guan?

cheers
M.

I'd guess Namerredje Guymala based on colour and the stylization in the figurative elements however the linework coupled with the grey/blue pigment still makes me think it's by someone from the Port Keats area.

A couple of wild guesses would be a) David Blanasi and b) Yirawala.

Any further clues?

There's something very familiar about the interlocking banding coupled with the rendering of the snakes, but I just can't place it. The short-line infill looks slightly Groote-ish, but that's clearly not the case.

I'll have to check some of my reference books when I get home

Are you going to enlighten us as to the craftsman Guan?

Yes, please do Guan! I'd actually forgotten all about this thread. Thanks for surfacing it again K.

J

Hi Kyle,

No-one has made an attempt to guess except you! Jason, what did your reference books tell you?

The mago is 1940s vintage, collected by a doctor in the NW region of the NT, not quite Port Keats but kinda close-by.

Guan

Cox Peninsula, perhaps?

Yes, well done Jason! It is from the Cox Peninsula area

Guan

hello there!!

so how did this story finish?? Guan, did u ever tell the name of the maker of this beauty???

i turned up in this thread by chance, and was indeed impressed by this mago... i couldn't tell a name of a maker, but yes, do agree with the appreciation of it belonging to a Wadeye sorta "new school of arts"... christian mission figurative influence, perhaps? anyhow, Cox peninsula -Mandorah, Belyuen, etc- and Wadeye are very much related by song as well, so it could somehow be linked with both...

i'd love to know!!!

m

This stuff is really really cool very very anorachy though tee hee its cool because it gets those like me who no very little virging on bugger all about this type of thing the knowledge from those that do ie Guan, Jason and Kyle where (apart from Guan as he is in the thick of it all) do you guys get to know this stuff cant be off the net that much as I spend loads of time on it trying to find stuff and cant. so there fore has to be books........ can I have a book list please sir?

Hi Marcos,

There's quite a lot of history to this instrument like when and in what circumstances it was collected. The name of the artist is not known though, it was very rare for the name of the artist or craftsperson to be recorded in the early days of collecting.

Guan