Welcome
What if what you have just bought is not an  authentic instrument at all made by an Aboriginal artisan?..
''We need to have a workshop from all the yidaki communities and have someone tell them how other people are now selling other yidaki and claiming they are from indigenous people. So buyers are able to choose which is the original or which is the artificial yidaki. All these things need to be looked at properly and monitored so that people who are in business with the real yidaki has got the knowledge of understanding how they deal yidaki to other parts of the country. ''




Andy Gurruwiwi, Galpu Clan




You are planning on purchasing a didgeridoo and you have not done your homework yet? Then you are very highly likely to get a non-authentic instrument as 99 % of all didgeridoos sold around the globe are not made by Aboriginal people of  Arnhem Land, Australia, where the instrument originates [1]. 

The range of didgeridoos  on offer in a dealer's showroom or in an online store of a particular reseller can be  overwhelming and you may find yourself at the mercy of a salesman. Here we answer all your immediate questions as well as to provide a source of a reference you might need.

The term 'didgeridoo' can be a source of some confusion to those unfamiliar with the subject. It could legitimately be applied to  any instrument regardless of origin, appearance, how the instrument was made or from what the instrument was made. Here, however, we use it to refer only to those made in Northern Territory (NT) of Australia and only by indigenous people of the country. Therefore, despite the similarities of appearance, it is appropriate to divide didgeridoos in two classes as generic didgeridoos and authentic traditional didgeridoos.

The former can be made from hard wood as well as glass, plastic or leather which are generally manually hollowed/shaped by the craftsman. The latter is made only by using naturally hollowed-out tree (i.e eucalyptus) logs crafted in Arnhem Land, NT. Instrument below is an example of generic instruments and in particular an import from Indonesia, crafted from a machine drilled teak tree. These type of instruments are very common and often labeled, wrongly, as authentic aboriginal instruments on Internet and tourist shops. Moreover, the generic instruments can be split into two classes as  i) the cheap reproduction imports into Australia from parts of Asia (as in the image below) and ii) mass-produced and non-Top End instruments made from eucalyptus. If you look at the websites of the most prominent US, Australian and European specialist didgeridoo retailers, their stock almost invariably consists of generic sticks, when traced back, come from a small number of mass harvesters.























In contrast, in order for an instrument to be truly authentic within the generally accepted meaning of the term, the instrument must be naturally hollowed out by termites,
usually some eucalyptus species, originate from one of the traditional didgeridoo producing regions (in NT), crafted and made by an artisan who is the true owner of the tradition. If the instrument is painted, the artwork on the instrument more often than not  springs from traditional clan designs the artist shares with other member of his clans as ancestral heritage.  Art (i.e in particular in the form of bark paintings, was and remains an important component of the system of restricted knowledge, and at a  more metaphysical level is the major source means of recreating ancestral events, ensuring continuity with the ancestral past and communicating with the spirit world [2]. For detailed information on aboriginal art please refer to the excellent book of Howard Morphy 'Ancestral Connections' [2].

Below are some points to look for to distinguish between a truly authentic/traditional and a generic non-traditional instrument.

(a) What is the origin of the instrument? Where has the instrument been sourced from?

(b) Who is the maker of the instrument? Can the dealer give you enough information as to the name behind it and which regions it was made and what type of instrument  it is.

(c) What type of tree is it made from? Machine-drilled teak didgeridoos, which are notorius crackers, tend to be light and the internal bore looks very smooth due to lack of natural convolutions and thanks to machine drillling. Note that an eucalyptus didgeridoo does not guarantee authenticity (as the instrument shown in the image below). There are non-authentic eucalyptus instruments made an painted  by non-Aboriginal people.

(d) How does the art work look like? Does it resembe traditional paintings? (Note that more and more non-Aboriginal painters are copying the traditional designs these days such cross-hatching of West Arnhem Land). Is there a glossy finish on the instrument? (which is a tale-teller for generally touristic, non-authentic instruments though some aboriginal maker also apply that on their instruments recently.)
























(e) What type of wax/mouthpiece does it have? Mago instruments have usually natural dark-brown coloured natural sugar bag on the mouthpiece whereas it is less often used for yidaki-type instruments See the image below where  mothpieces of a non-authentic generic didgeridoo (left-most), a mago (middle) and a yidaki (right-mosy) are shown, respectively. (again note that there can be a  Mago intrument without a wax and a yidaki with a wax added for comfort. This is of course the exception rather than the rule). Generic instruments however invariably use white/European wax on the mouthpiece. Again one can note, although not so often, European wax on traditional instruments on occasions when the maker did not have access to the natural wax at the time of construction.























Choosing an authentic didgeridoo

The most important factor when choosing an authentic didgeridoo is 'why' the instrument is being bought. This  may sound implausible or self-evident. However it is not uncommon for people  to purchase extremely attractive and reasonably priced didgeridoos only to realize, when the instrument is delivered, that  the didgeridoo is far from what they have been after. If you are interested in playing your instrument in a traditional way as the aboriginal people of Arnhem Land do, then you should only aim for a traditional instrument which can respond in a desired way thanks to its structure, sound texture and sensitivity.

Although not common, one might also see aboriginal people playing an instrument which is not authentic  at all. This is only the exception not the rule and it occurs usually when instrument has to be carried around and therefore a light, non-traditional instrument might come in handy [Ref]. It is understandable that aboriginal people favor the traditional instruments made in their country.

However one should note that if the intent is to merely practise circular breathing which is a mandatory method you should master so as to be able to play  any didgeridoo, then you might be very happy even with a plastic pipe (PVC) with a length of about 1 m or longer. In that case, an authentic instrument is surely not a must-have.

One can be concerned with investment potential or collectability and the fact that items purchased do not lose value but on contrary gain value over years. In this case even a fully traditional high quality stick might not be a good investment as generally new instruments regardless of quality lose their value upon purchase. An instrument made by a sought-after craftsman, vintage instruments  with good playing quality or well-protected artwork or both, personal instruments of a particular aboriginal player or an instrument used in ceremony might be a way to go.

Apart from all the issues mentioned above, buying an instrument eventually boils down to personal taste of an individual and therefore it might reflect only the taste of the didgeridoo enthusiast as he might be impressed by the look, sound, artwork  (e.g color, design), the name behind the instrument or just the price for that matter.

Yidaki or Mago

Though one can come across an instrument which can be used both as yidaki and mago, these are different type of instruments and therefore generally can not replace one another. Ethnomusicologist Alice Moyle classified the traditional instrument as type A and type B. The latter, type B refers to the instruments used in North East Arnhem Land (NEAL), Central Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt and are traditionally named as yidaki and  they are overtone-present instruments used for Bunggul or Djatpangarri  genre. A prime example of such a technique is Djalu Gurruwiwi, a highly respected senior man of Galpu Clan. The former, A type, played in  West Arnhem Land (WAL) as well as Southern and Central part of Arnhem Land, is traditionally named as mago is an overtone-absent instrument used for Kun-borrk genre (Bungaliny-Bungaliny)  of which the deceased David Blanasi  was or his grandson Darryl Dikkarna Brown is, presently, prime examples.

Size

In a nutshell, the longer the instrument the lower the key (the note) the instrument registers in.  As such, an instrument of 1.5 m for instance will sound much deeper than does an instrument of 1 m length.  This in turn determines how fast an instrument can/should be played. Suggested keys for instrument differ based on the type of instrument in question. For a yidaki, anything between C and F+, G or even G+ can be acceptable and favoured by didge players. However instruments that register outside this range are not uncommon. As for mago type instruments, we generally select instruments registering in E, F, F+, G for suitability for Kun-borrk genre.

What to pay? : price and quality

It is needless to say  that the amount you pay should be primarily be determined by what you can afford. This may again seem self-evident but it is not uncommon for people to be carried along by the dealer who highly praises  the instruments he offers which turn out to be of mediocre quality at the end of the day. The first step is thus to decide exactly how much you intend to spend and then look for items that fall in this range of price. The dealer should be informed about what type of instrument with sound and playing characteristics are looked after as this might help in narrowing down the choices that can be made aside from the price only.

Although the price and quality is generally connected, there can be wide differences depending on the dealer in question.

Quality is determined by structural and aesthetic considerations. The latter can not be defined by any objective criteria and are largely a matter of personal taste. However, if you wish to guarantee a reasonable resale value, it is important to make sure that your tastes coincide with more 'universally' held views on the quality and aesthetic views. Structural quality can be assessed much more objectively. Below are some points to consider :

(a) Sound quality of an instrument for a particular genre (NEAL versus WAL). How responsive is the instrument? How efficient is the instrument in transferring the energy from the player (or vice-versa). How traditional does the instrument sound? How rich the voice of a particular is? (How broad the spectrum?)

(b) Fineness of the artwork on a painted instrument.

(c) How well is the construction carried out? How heavy/light is it  and how is the overall anatomy of the instrument (wall thickness, mouthpiece comfort etc).

Remember that there is not a clear-cut consensus on these matters and these are some points to consider for western players. To illustrate, an instrument which does feel almost 'dead' ( hence not fulfilling the item (a above)) can be selected by an aboriginal player for its good quality can be even used in ceremony. Similarly comfort in playing an instrument is  a matter of personal taste and therefore can vary among players.

It should be also added that an instrument tapped-up from head to toe does not mean a shoddy instrument at all. Such ceremonial instruments are very common and in our book this adds to the value of an instrument and can be an ethnographical reason per se to collect.

To sum up, when buying an instrument one should ask as many question as possible regarding the origin of the instrument, the region it springs from,  where and when it was made, the artist who crafted/painted it, sound characteristics and so forth.

RealDIDJ

References:
[1]  Alice M. Moyle, 'Aboriginal Sound Instruments', Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1978
[2] Morphy Howard, ''Ancestral Connections, Art and An Aboriginal system of Knowledge'', The university of Chicago Press., 1991















































A teak didgeridoo, decorated with dot paintings, is an example of mass-produced generic instruments which are falsely labelled as authentic aboriginal didgeridoos.

Education
RealDIDJ
Fine Didgeridoos & Art of Arnhem Land
Mouthpiece and the type of wax (if present) can be an indicator for the authenticity. A non-authentic  eucalyptus didgeridoo  made in Australia seen on the left hand side has a white/European wax. An authentic mago (middle) has a natural sugar bag wax, which is dark in colour. Most yidaki, however, do not have any wax applied although there are exceptions (see the image below).
Yidaki instruments from Yirrkala, north east Arnhem Land made and painted by indigenous artists/craftsmen. These specimen showcase only a tiny fraction of the traditional designs on authentic instruments. An experience eye however can guess who the maker can be (or the clan is for that matter) by just looking at the artwork on an instrument .
A yidaki type instrument from Djalu Guruwiwi of Galpu clan with a native sugar bag wax on the mouthpice. Although not a rule, one can see occasionally such yidaki mouthpieces as opposed to the more common case of waxless mouthpiece.