The world of music (paraphrasing our writer Ciro Alegría ) is wide and alien. And in these times of monothematic banalities and superficialisms -cumbias and reggaetones that sound all day on all radio and open television channels- or mistaken ultranationalist tendencies -thinking that we should only listen to waltzes, celebrations, sailors and huaynos to be more Peruvians- make it wider and more foreign to us than ever. This despite the fact that today we have the Internet, and all its valuable information, just a stone's throw away. In distant Australia there has been, for an indeterminate number of hundreds of years, an exotic wind instrument that produces fascinating sounds, almost like a cosmic vibration that comes from a spiritual universe, separated from the physical or the concrete. We refer to the didgeridoo (or diyeridú ), strange sound-generating device that we will learn a little more about today through this note.
With the heyday of the so-called World Music (or World Music in Spanish), various European, North American and Latin American artists have incorporated the didgeridoo into their recordings. Even so, it remains an enigma for the vast majority of people. Although its antiquity has not been traced exactly, it is known that since ancient times it has been used by the aborigines of northern Australia, as an instrument for religious, social or ritual ceremonies associated with agriculture and celebrations of nature. In those times it could only be played by men and although this practice still exists in Australian aboriginal areas, it has disappeared in urban areas, where there are performers of both sexes of the long and heavy didgeridoo .
A didgeridoo It measures, at least, 1.20m in length and can reach 3 meters in length, for which it is played sitting down. It is built from eucalyptus logs, mostly pierced by termites and has a striking decoration, made by aboriginal artists, with colors and religious or ceremonial motifs. Today, didgeridoos are built in series for the modern recording industry, with applications and features different from the original ones, but always maintaining its essence as a native instrument.
The sound of the didgeridoo is very peculiar. In strictly musical terms, it is a single note that goes from high to low in an oscillating manner, like a vibration, generated by the musician through a technique known as circular breathing:taking deep amounts of air through the nose and blowing them out. releasing between the cheeks and the tongue, in a rhythmic way according to the effect you want to achieve. The result is a simulation of an electrical impulse, something incredible considering that this sound is many years older than any notion that the human being had of electricity.
The didgeridoos They have irregular shapes, due to their handmade nature:narrow at the mouthpiece (which is generally covered with wax to protect the performer's lips) and they widen, sinuously, until they end in a wide mouth that favors their resonance.
From its aboriginal use to current avant-garde trends that include it for various instrumentation and effects creation, listen to the didgeridoo it is always a new experience. We invite you to learn about the captivating and mysterious sound atmospheres of this exotic Australian instrument: