iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

Hello,

Among the many traditionnal names for the didjeridu we often see the name "BAMBOO".
I've always thought that it was another Aboriginal name for the same type of instrument (with its own caracteristics), but still made of eucalyptus.
Because anyway, Aborigines surely do not traditionnally call bamboo "bamboo" !
The other day, a French didjplayer and crafter told me that some Aboriginal tribes DO use bamboo to make didjeridus.
I am thinking he has it mixed up with that name... But it made me doubt...
Indeed, why not use bamboo... another naturally hollow piece of wood ?!

Anybody got a clue ?

Thanks ^^

Your friend was correct. The earliest didjeridus collected by Westerners (on the Cobourg Peninsula) were made from bamboo - the local species being Bambusa Arnhemica - have a look at the top two instruments on the Western Arnhem Land pages on the ididj site here: http://www.ididj.com.au/exhibitions/wal.html

Thanks for the info K' !
Now, is it the bamboo didjes that are called "bamboo" ?
And if yes, how come Aboriginals use the same word as the Occidentals ? (talking about a century ago of course).

"Bamboo" is merely a substitute word for didgeridoo.



I guess the word got adopted early on and has stuck, and the reason is because of association. A bit like how some Yolngu might use the word "dakul" meaning axe for number 7. Because number 7 has a similar shape to an axe

Guan

Hi !

About the term "bamboo" designating a eucalyptus didjeridu :

I was wondering about the etymology of that word.
Thinking that it might be only one century old, since the occidental colonisation of Australia.
Hence the word would not be an ancestral traditionnal word.

Then I've checked the etymology of "bamboo" and it says here that it comes from Malay (samambu)... Malays being eastern inhabitants of Indonesian island Sumatra (close to Malaysia).
Considering the fact that some Indonesian Macassar boats sailed to northern Australia (and traded) long time before it's European discovery, I was thinking that maybe that "bamboo" term was finally much older thant 100 years...

???

Bamboo didgeridoos are indeed traditional, the oldest known didgeridoo specimens are made from bamboo, albeit from an Australian native bamboo species Bambusa arnhemica. Here's a thread on the forum about traditional bamboo didgeridoos:

http://www.forum.ididj.com.au/the-phras ... -t457.html

There isn't a special term for bamboo didgeridoos as far as I know. Although the name "ebroo" was recorded for early bamboo didgeridoos collected in the Cobourg Peninsula region, the name is likely to have been used for didgeridoos made from all types of materials. The same can be said for "yidaki". Yolngu may use it for instruments made from stringybark, as they might for instruments made from bloodwood, teak or PVC!

If you listen to the commentary on the latest YouTube video I put up, you can hear someone from Ramingining refer to David Dharrapuy as a "bamboo man" at around 3 mins 35 sec:

http://www.forum.ididj.com.au/david-dha ... -t505.html

Oops... I just realised I deleted a post accidentally, sorry

I do not think that the word "bamboo" has been in use among Aboriginal people of the Top End for a long time, it is more likely to have come into usage through European contact (post 1788) rather than Indonesian contact. I would guess that the word "bamboo" began to have currency in the Top End beginning in the 1900s, probably from the 1950s onwards.

Guan

Thanks Guan & Kyle !

I guess this thread is solved ! --_^