Ancient Origins
- Australian Aboriginal Saying
"The land owns us."
- Australian Aboriginal Saying
© Richard Coffey - All Rights Reserved
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Ancient Origins
About the Music:
Recently I have been listening to a good amount of excellent didgeridoo playing. Did you know there is a large sub-culture devoted to didgeridoo beatbox grooving? Dubstep, Trap, Trance, Hip Hop... whatever the genre, didgeridoo players have improvised really amazingly great sounding grooves! Its fascinating how really good the didgeridoo sounds in this context.
I looped a short section of one of the grooves pulled from this live didgeridoo competition and the tune sprung to life! Didg to Didg #4 - Colas VS Zalem
"Ancient Origins" Theme
Every culture/religion it seems has their own version of creation. Considered sacred accounts, the story of creation and mankind's relationship with nature can be found in nearly all known religious traditions. The Western Judeo-Christian world of course has the story of Genesis. For Hindus. the universe was created by Brahma, the creator who made the universe out of himself. After Brahma created the world, it is the power of Vishnu which preserves the world and human beings.
Australian Aboriginal Spiritual Deliefs
Aboriginals believe that the entire world was made by their Ancestors way back in the very beginning of time, the Dreamtime. The Ancestors made everything - the rivers, streams, water holes, the land, hills, rocks, plants and animals. The Ancestors made special places which were to be sacred. The Aboriginals performed ritual ceremonies and customary songs near the sacred sites to please the Ancestral spirits and to keep themselves alive.
Further Info
The didgeridoo is considered one of the world's oldest musical instruments. It was developed by Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia at least 1,500 years ago, and is now in use around the world, though still most strongly associated with Indigenous Australian music.
Traditional didgeridoos are usually made from hardwoods, especially the various eucalyptus species that are endemic to northern and central Australia. Traditional didgeridoo makers seek suitably hollow live trees in areas with obvious termite activity. Termites attack these living eucalyptus trees, removing only the dead heartwood of the tree, as the living sapwood contains a chemical that repels the insects.
Once a suitably hollow tree is found, it is cut down and cleaned out, the bark is taken off, the ends trimmed, and the exterior is shaped; this results in a finished instrument. A rim of beeswax may be applied to the mouthpiece end. Didgeridoo