February 5th 2012 06:41 pm
Timothy Litalita Ganambarr cutting yirdaki (didgeridoo), Galiwin’ku, Elcho Island
There are a few pertinent points to this video clip. Firstly, Litalita explains what he is doing… he peels off a bit of bark to expose the wood underneath which he taps to listen for a particular type of sound. It tells him whether the tree trunk is sufficiently hollow or not. He then cuts at the base of the tree. Notice when the camera pans upwards that a small twig breaks off as Litalita is chopping into the tree? This is a good sign that the tree has been termite-infested. See how the foliage is really sparse in the canopy? Another sign that the tree is not in the best of shape with termites having eaten out its core. Meaning that the tree is possibly a good candidate for making into a didgeridoo, but we never really know until it has been cut down and the hollow is inspected for size and shape at both the mouthpiece and bell ends. In this instance, the base of the tree trunk is sufficiently hollowed out by termites and is a good size and shape. However, when Litalita tries to find a suitable mouthpiece for the instrument by chopping into the felled tree, he is unsuccessful. He tries twice but both times the size of the hollow is too small. So he leaves the felled tree and goes on looking for another in the hope of finding something with exactly the right dimensions. Notice the nature of the soil with lots of small pebbles and lumps of bauxite? This is ideal territory for finding great yidaki, termites love this sort of environment and create beautiful hollows in …
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Tags: aboriginal, arnhem, arnhemland, datiwuy, didge, Didgeridoo, didjeridu, elcho, galiwinku, ganambarr, island, land, litalita, music, ngaymil, Northern, Territory, timothy, yidaki, yirdaki, yolngu
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