Newsstand: November 23, 2009
The Making of a Medley
Transit City and Transit Cities
The Daily Photoist: November 23, 2009
Is the didgeridoo the new cheap guitar? That could be the case among Toronto’s street musicians, as evidenced by these shots at Kensington Market’s monthly Pedestrian Sunday and, yesterday, on the corner of Yonge and Dundas streets across from Dundas Square. You can pair it with almost any other instrument, though a sitar seems a rather eclectic choice, or make it the basis for a one-man band. You can even put three of them together for the ultimate Pipes of Pan (eat your heart out, Zamfir!). Almost guaranteed to draw a crowd.
They’re not terribly expensive to buy. There’s one for sale in Oshawa, made in Indonesia rather than Australia, for $160. Or you can make your own from a length of plastic, wood, or metal tubing. Though the "circular breathing" technique, which allows the musician to keep playing on and on without seeming to take a breath, is tricky to master, you can pick up the basics faster than you’d learn to strum the three fundamental guitar chords.
On the serious side, Australian aboriginals regard the didgeridoo very profoundly and use it in their religious rites. They don’t take kindly to women playing it. An Agence France-Presse story last month quoted Aboriginals warning that Australian girls who were taking up the instrument ran the risk of infertility for playing around with "men’s business."
Photos by Bill Taylor/Torontoist
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I've never been able to get the hang of circular breathing, but I can manage the basic drone.
Yoshi & Chi! (pic #1)
the circular breathing is the hardest part....but they are lots of fun!
"We know very clearly that there's a range of consequences for a female touching a didgeridoo -- infertility would be the start of it, ranging to other consequences," he said, adding: "I won't even let my daughter touch one."
Should your daughter accidentally touch one, scan her with your e-meter and consult your family scientology physician immediately if a rash occurs.
You'd think that playing around with "men's business" would run the risk opposite to infertility.
Yep.
Didgeridoo insemination? I'd pay money to see that!
Who's Geri and what did she do?
To my understanding, the didgeridoo is associated very heavily with Aboriginal spirituality, and is usually only used in ceremonies, so I'm not too sure how the Aborigines would feel about Westerners using it for entertainment.
As far as women using didgeridoo goes, my understanding is that women are believed to access the same elements of aborigines spirituality through childbearing and childbirth, and thus playing the didgeridoo may cause issues with fertility (certain Aboriginal cultures believe that if a woman plays the didgeridoo, she would have twins). Since men cannot bear children, they must play the didgeridoo to access these 'spiritual elements'. I am therefore inclined to agree that publishing a guide for 'Daring Girls' that gives instructions on playing the didgeridoo is quite insensitive, as it demonstrates a lack of understanding of the reasons for which Aboriginal women are not allowed play the didgeridoo.
If anyone is interested in the spiritual beliefs of Australian Aborigines, Professor David Turner (who teaches at UofT) has multiple, fairly easy-to-read books on the subject.