iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

Just created this and hope you guys like it, I will add to this topic in due time but this is just the start, trying to get myself back into the full swing of things slowly slowly and this is a good way to do it...



I've known Mikey ever since my early recordings sessions with the likes of Yomsie and Larry, he would hang around and absorb it all, and sometimes get in the way. My first impressions were that he was a cute little kid who wasn't shy with strangers, he'd to come up to me and ask questions... in English! As he got more familiar with me, he started speaking in Yolngu Matha. He still got in the way, he just wanted to hang around and listen to these guys play yidaki whilst I was recording them. Eventually, I almost felt like a father figure to him, he didn't play much with the other kids and I never saw him with his parents, and so I developed a soft spot for him as he seemed to be lonely, or abandoned and just somehow different.

From hanging around, he progressed to playing yidaki on plastic pipes and short narrow yidaki like the other kids his age.

I was fortunate to attend his Dhapi' initiation ceremony and took some amazing pics over at his outstation, some of the most colourful dancing and awesome singing/yidaki performances I'd heard.

Then when I saw Mikey last year, in 2010, he'd transformed! His playing had grown up, and so had he! He told me his dream was to tour as a yidaki player, with Yothu Yindi or any other group, or as a solo performer/teacher. He had learnt from all the best players in the Gove region and he reeled off their names. He'd started playing in ceremony too, at Yirrkala, Ski Beach and Galiwin'ku, and he'd been in Sydney playing as a professional, being paid and all that. My guess is that he knows most of the videos on the iDIDJ channel off by heart, describing various instruments that I had recorded and shown on YouTube and asking if I could bring some of those on my next visit for him to play. Something that made me laugh... Mikey doesn't know his mobile phone number and it seems he doesn't use it to make calls, but instead to access YouTube to watch my yidaki videos.

This guy is definitely the Young Master and someone whom I feel will one day take over Djalu's position as Mr Didgeridoo.

Well that's it for now, just taken a sleeping pill (got a prescription today ) and am wishing/dying for a good night's sleep.

Cya guys, catch yas 2moro n hope u like the clip.

Guan

Hi Guan

This clip (the full Youtube version) has been getting most of my attention for a few weeks now!! the lad is stunning and at 13 well its nearly beyond belief! I am using this clip mainly to try to learn the various rapid toot sequences he plays which he seems to have mastered well. Laga has got some competition in the high speed stakes!!!!!

Thanks for posting this on Youtube and here(Love the production inc the snowy peaks, Victoria??) its one of my top 10 videos now.

Paul

Hi Guan

Just seen the new "trailler" and it looks fantastic but seriously dude you really need to come back from the Peter Jackson "lord of the Rings"/Hollywood school of trailer making and get me to do the deep voice over bit "coming to a yidaki NEAR YOU SOON!!!!!!! LOL..... Seriously I love it brilliant carry on the fantastic work old bean. Not had much time to post on here as I have been solid at new job of being a parent and also new job as a teaching assistant (a year and a bit in but dont get time during working day to post as full on and to tired at home with first job to post (Kyle will back me up on this) but as its half term and I have got five mins thought I would just say hello and re conect some what.

Got some of the kids interested in didge generally, I work between 2 departments being music and mainly design tech. got one lad making a stick from a log found on sight, 2 learning to play on the old golf bag pipes (basicly slide didge for a quid) and helped the entire year 9 (13/14 year olds) do a project on Australia, some even did their presentation on abariginal culture, did 2 assemblys on playing didge and do constatnt workshops in school on playing drums and didge etc. Basically love my new job much more rewarding working with kids that need help than trying to punt soap and other things on the radio in my old job:-)

This is an earlier video I uploadedof Mikey, there's an amazing freestyle composition at 5.39 to 5.52:



Guan

I've also noticed this sequence... One the best things I heard on yirdaki

I'd like to do a promotion/competition to see who can come closest to this rhythm played by young Mikey, any1 up for it? I'm willing to give away one of Mikey's instruments to the person who comes closest

Guan

Er!! is the sky blue??? is the sun yellow??? go for it!!!! (which part of it? the short clip? as the long one is 8 mins?)

Paul

This one here Paul:



How about I make it both rhythms, and they're slowed down too so that should make it easier for 'contestants' to learn it. Both rhythms are short like only a few seconds each, but as we know, it is the quality of playing that is important not quantity. Let's keep this within the Forum rather than a general YouTube promotion.

Guan

PS. Oh yea, the sky is yellow and the sun blue... oops, I mean the other way around hahahaha

Is there a time limit on this and why not use this comp as an opportunity to raise some funds for the philanthropy appeal???, after all whoever wins is going to get a decent yidaki so surely entrants won't mind parting with a few bucks to submit their files for what is a good cause and close to all our hearts. Ok, this may not be popular so I expect to be put up in front of the firing squad BUT we can't always expect to get something for nothing! this may be the way of the world today but it shouldn't be like this in our community here. Most of us joined this forum for the same reason (interested in the yidaki/mago/aboriginal culture etc) yet despite many appeals for small donations to help Guan with the financial burden involved in the assistance he gives to the indigenous people very few have come forward. If Guan has offered to give a yidaki as a "prize" in a competition to stimulate interest then I think it is only fair that we donate to enter it, especially when we know where any help is going, to those people who have given us the priviledge of the yidak/mago in the first place. We are bombarded with appeals for donations by many charities on the TV today from africa(children and water) to the RSPCA, donkeys, tigers, endangered species etc, the list is endless so it's about time someone spoke out about the need for funds for our cause. The forum has 500 members now, AU$1 per month (which is 60p UK ie peanuts!) would mean AU$500 each month toward paying for any assistance or needs of our "brothers" and relieve some of the financial stress off Guans shoulders which at the moment is not doing him any favours. I realise that not all are in a position to help but conversely many could give a few dollars more. So how about it? lets show that we are not like the majority of the world who won't do something for nothing and support the communities we have come to know through the pages of this forum. You can all pull your triggers now !!!!! FIRE !!!!
Paul

Hi

Here are my two attempts at trying to copy the two Mikey clips, not so easy trying to copy someone elses playing especially at speed. I know the vocals in the 2nd clip are weak but I just can't seem to get my voice up high enough + being an F#/F# yirdaki doesn't help either. In both clips Mikey plays first, put in there for comparison.

Paul

Nice Paul!
I'm afraid I can't get technical like Guan, but for mikey 1 the last dup is a double-dup, not a single one.
Apart from that, mikey 1 can be a winner (no other contestant? will I have to participate myself with my bamboo and my headphones as a mic? ).
I think you haven't given all your usual potential on mikey 2. Try ticking along with your finger maybe?

In view of the above comments, I have revised both files(above), the first one to show the "double dup" (a series of attempts here)and the second one with a bit more "potential". These are not easy and once you start to practise them you will see that this is very much the case. Look forward to hearing your attempts...I don't know whether Guan is still running this comp or not but my words above about contributing to the philanthropy appeal and not just expecting something for nothing still stand. This was just an exercise for me to try out my playing skills but a competition(if this is what it is) needs entrants, either way whatever Guan decides I will go along with.

Thanks Paul

Ah yes, Paul, mikey 2 is far better. You almost have it (I wonder what key Mikey's didge is in.) The cries aren't as prominent as Mikey's version, but that's the recording, so no bother. Well done.
Looks like you're cruising ahead...

Thanks, I reckon his instrument is a G. I have a G#/A toot and that is too "high" and the F# is a tad too "low" I think in hindsight, after you mentioned about the double dup, that Mikey 1 is better as well. I knew the double dup was there and I had practised it but it got lost when I started to speed things up a bit but with a little bit more practise I managed to keep it audible!. The cries are weak, they have never been my strong point, I am getting on a bit (57 years old with a deep voice) so have always found them a struggle, unless I am playing a very resonant instrument or a lower key, say a D, then they don't sound too bad. I think I may need to concentrate on them a bit more and maybe I can get a bit of improvement.

Paul

Okay then, but don't focus on them too much: I remember this video where Darryl explains that to choose a mago, a guy with a high pitched voice should have a high pitched mago, while a low pitched voice should have a low pitched mago. It's quite logical when you think about it (identical range & vocal range = more resonance). Mikey probably has a high pitched voice...