Se alle de andre gode tilbud på:

AUSTRALIEN

Læs følgende anmeldelser på dansk senere på denne side: Dr.Didg: Serotonality

Read the following reviews in English at the last part of this page:
Nomad - DrDidg: Out of the Woods - Inlakesh

DIDGERIDOO MUSIK:
Det skal ikke være nogen hemmelighed, at didgeridooen har en særlig plads hos os, grundet dens særlige, "numinøse" kvaliteter (se Om Numen). Det er det kendteste af de indfødte australieres instrumenter. Lavet af en godt 1 meter lang hul gren fra eukalyptustræet, den har en dyb, kraftig lyd, fyldt med overtoner (ofte sammenlignes lyden med den fra de tibetanske munkes lange horn), og den spilles med kontinuerligt åndedræt. Energien den formidler har at gøre med udrensning, med jordforbindelse, og de dybe, grove toner har en meget maskulin kvalitet (blev oprindeligt kun spillet af mændene). Vi har en del forskellige titler:

DAVID HUDSON's geniale spil viser instrumentets enorme bredde og mange muligheder. Teknisk set fine, 'audiofile' indspilninger, så man nærmest inde i instrumentet lytter med på de dybe, rumlende grove lyde med alle deres mangeartede overtoner. Lyden af Australien er der. Woolunda er ren solo, mens Rainbow Serpent har flere numre med Hudson's percussion, samt lidt naturlyde i baggrunden D.kr. 159.-

DrDIDG eller Graham Wiggins: Rytmisk stærk, folkerock verdensmusik, spændende til fx. dans eller bare masser af lytteoplevelser. Didgeridoo i centrum, med bl.a. smuk lyrisk bluesguitar. Out of the Woods (se anmeldelsen nedenfor) og hans seneste Serotonality (se anmeldelsen nedenfor), er lidt mere jazzet nogle steder. De skubber begge til verdensmusikkens grænser, lydmæssigt og rytmisk. D.kr.159.-

NOMAD: (se anmeldelsen nedenfor). Rytmisk-shamanistisk fusion af forskellige kulturers musik. En stærk og vild, krydret blanding, med Nomad (didgeridoo), Robert Mirabal (indiansk sang og fløjte) og Mor Thiam (afrikansk sang og percussion) 159.-

ADAM PLACK & JOHNNY WHITE ANT spiller didgeridoo med en sjælden kraft og kunstnerisk kreativitet. Deres to seneste: Dawn to Dusk har de bedste etniske indspilninger af australsk musik, vi endnu har hørt, med fokus på didgeridoo. Winds of Warning er en hvirvlende blanding af traditionel- og verdensmusik, en stærkt rytmisk opvisning af didgeridoo'ens muligheder, med bl.a. sang, keyboards, percussion og guitar akkompaniment. D.kr.159.-

ANDRE TITLER: Didgeridoo'en bruges i mange sammenhænge efterhånden:
Se under Verdensmusik, Verdenstrommer og New Age: F.eks. Brent Lewis, Gabrielle Roth, Feet in the soil etc etc.

Back to top

Australiens indfødtes oprindelige vindinstrument, DIDGERIDOO'EN, høres oftere og oftere i baggrunden på mange popmusik indspilninger i disse år. Og også, mere fremtrædende, på nogle verdensmusikalske fusionsblandinger (som nævnt ovenover, under ANDRE TITLER). Nye verdensmusik indspilninger der giver en central placering til didg'en er stadigvæk sjældne, men kommer dog med kortere mellemrum efterhånden.

Generelt synes jeg de har en overraskende høj musikalsk kvalitet. Måske instrumentet er så grundlæggende enkel, men også grundlæggende sanselig, at der ikke er meget plads til dårlige vibrationer? Her følger anmeldelser af nogle af de bedste.

DR. DIDG: 'Serotonality'. Det var Graham Wiggins, som sammen med Martin Cradick i gruppen Outback - se også anmeldelsen af Cradicks nye CD her på siderne - var med til virkelig at gøre didgeridooen verdenskendt i begyndelsen af halvfemserne.

Musikken de spillede var imidlertid meget folkemusikpræget, og måske skulle Wiggins - egentlig dr.phil. i fysik fra Oxford - først inkarnere sig som Dr. Didg, for at kunne udfolde sig som en af verdensmusikkens store navne og egentlige nyskabere. For siden hans første CD i eget navn, den meget elektrisk- og rockpræget verdensmusik CD 'Out of the Woods', har Wiggins hverken set tilbage eller stået stille.

Han fortæller hvordan 'Out of the Woods' blev udviklet ved spil på fortorvene og gaderne rund omkring i England, mens gruppen på den nye indspilning har haft en anden slags omgivelser som udgangspunkt og læreplads.

På denne plade består gruppen Dr. Didg først og fremmest af Wiggins selv på både didgeridoo, melodica og synthesizer/keyboards, samt Ian Campbell, trommer, Mark Revell på guitar og lidt "analog synth", og Tim Harries på bas. Og Wiggins beskriver hvordan numrene dennegang har modnet og udviklet sig igennem at spille i værtshuse, klubber og ved udendørs koncerter. Steder hvor der er en meget gensidig kontakt med publikummet, og hvor det drejer sig om at få folk til at få lyst til at danse.

Og ingen tvivl om det, denne nye fusion af verdensrock og riffende jazz, Wiggins elektriske looping af levende didgeridoo lydsamplinger mens de spiller, det hele blandet med lækker percussion og akustisk didgeridoo - det ER netop noget der inviterer enhver, også bedstefar og bedstemor, til at flytte på selv deres dovneste fødder og på kroppen.

Enjoy!

Jack Donen

Back to top

NOMAD'S 'Nomad' was on Billboard's world music charts last Autumn, and deservingly from this reviewers point of view. The sound of the album is immediate and striking.

Nomad reaches into traditions where the musical culture is not so much a matter of control, but perhaps more of losing control. On this record the shamanistic, trance-inducing energy of Aboriginal, Native American and African music and sounds are joined together, in a crossover that suddenly seems perfectly natural. Though perhaps also pretty much out of this world to a "civilised" European mind.

Nomad is in fact a classically trained musician, who "wandered into the Australian bush to find the music of nature". Here he plays didgeridoo, "instrumentation" (sic!) and chants. He's on his own on three of nine tracks.

On the others he's accompanied by different combinations of three other musicians: Robert Mirabal, a Taos Pueblan who plays flute and also sings. Mor Thiam from Senegal, who plays drums and chants. And apparently (no information about him) there's another "city boy" on the record, Jason Baker on guitar, "instrumentation" and vocals.

The didgeridoo has a way of creating rhythm that's connected to the breath, to the natural breathing function. On this album the rhythms are often heavy and persistent, the chanting wild, and the total result is like being transported into some uncharted world jungle and being suddenly surrounded by dancing, chanting savages, who may or may not be able to prevent you from ever returning as the same person, to the straight world you came from. My advice: if you're not against them, get into your Bermuda shorts and join them!

Back to top

DR:DIDG on 'Out of the Woods' is closer to home, a funky, folk-rock didgeridoo corroboree (get-together). Graham Wiggins, leader and didgeridoo master was, together with Martin Cradick in 1988, a founding member of Outback, one of the first groups to bring the instrument to the attention of the Western world.

(Martin Cradick plays mostly guitar and mandolin, and was largely responsible for the folk element in their recordings. He has more recently been recording with the pygmies of Central Africa - see the review elsewhere in this number).

Part of the technique of blowing the instrument involves circular breathing, and Wiggins is very much taken up by the connection of breathing to rhythm: "Playing the didgeridoo does not simply use the breath, it is the breath. It is a way of dancing with your lungs and throat and breathing rhythmically to create a hypnotic groove which comes straight from the rhythms of the body".

There's a lot of emphasis on the percussive qualities of the instrument on this record. The sound is often sharper and more incisive than one is used to hearing, and this is part of what gives the music its rock sound. In addition, he uses some complex sampling techniques to keep, and strengthen the rhythmic patterns he's interested in. Together with guitarist, Mark Revell, and Wiggin's own addition of melodica (a mouth blown harmonica), we get the funky groove, which again is heightened by Ian Campbell's easily swinging drums.

Back to top

With INLAKESH'S 'Quantum Dreaming', we're more or less back to basics: Didgeridoo with rhythm, plenty of nature sounds from the Australian bush, a bit of bull roarer whirring round your head. And then - you'll never guess the surprise addition - well, of course, what else than - a cello!

To get the cello over with right away, it's only on two of the eight tracks, and it's not very intrusive.

Some of the rhythm is supplied by click sticks, but most of it comes by way of Jeff Sussman's softly ambient African tension drums and congas, more supporting of the basic rhythm of the didg, than "driving" a rhythm forward in itself.

So what we're coming to hear here, is the didgeridoo itself as sound-maker and sound imitator. A good portion of solo didg, the mike close up, all the overtones made clear to hear, the rough bass timbres massaging the whole system, speakers and the room, as well as the listener.

It's that basic sound that has always attracted me to the instrument. Recording techniques today reach right into the vibrating inner core of the hollowed out piece of wood that is the didg - and luckily there are quite a few such modern studio recordings to choose from. No need to go for your weekly trip to the masseuse, just turn it on, lay yourself down and enjoy.

But 'Quantum Dreaming' is more than just physical massage. The two players, Tanya Gerard and Robert Thomas also let you hear a lot of the animals of the bush, as well as the human animal. They know how to get into a rhythmic groove, where there's a kind of serious, ruminating playfulness in the making of sounds. Strange sounds, putting out recognisable feelings - teasing, jumping, a stubborn worrying at what's going on, a laughing and complaining. Then suddenly a dog barking again, the cry of a bird. Stop.
Jack Donen

Back to top