Our last article on Cultural Appropriation discusses a fairly pervasive problem facing would-be innovators of didgeridoo craft, exhibition, and performance: the didgeridoo is often promoted as a “traditional” and/or “primitive” instrument. Frequently, collectors and fans of the didgeridoo and didgeridoo music perceive Aboriginal people and cultures as “primitive” and/or “traditional” out of a type of
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Cultural Appropriation or Collaborative Translation?: “White” People Building Didgeridoo with Yolngu Permission
In February of 2004, icy winds blew across South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, biting my nose, forcing my jacket shut. I walked, bamboo didgeridoo in hand past vendor booths selling handmade jewelry, tie-dyed t-shirts and “vintage” records. Searching for the monthly “First Thursday” drum circle, I kept an ear to the wind, and continued
Didgeridoo Craft Apprenticeship with Djalu Gurruwiwi and Family
In August of 2009, the Yolngu aboriginal elder and leader of the Galpu Clan — Djalu Gurruwiwi — walked ahead of our group toward the edge of a rocky cliff that rose above the waters of a crescent shaped bay along the Arafura Sea coastline of Austalia’s Northern Territory. Our group of Texan musicians