"We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”
-Jimmy Carter.
Hello there, full-time weekenders!
I found out yesterday that it was Australia's Day. It is so cool that I know some Aussies thanks to Hive. On previous #weekend-engagement initiatives, I have talked about many things about Australia. It is a fascinating place! And before even Hive existed, I remember almost always using the cultural topics of my English Classes at college to talk something about this big country.
Maybe it was one of the last time I made a post about Australia, I mentioned visiting the Brisbane School of Guitarmaking which I follow on Instagram and admire the work they do there. The Luthier Greg Smallman was one of the craftsman who ventured into making classical guitars breaking from the traditions of Spanish luthiers. And his ideas where very interested. So much that John Williams, the famous classical guitarist, also from Australia, changed the guitars he used for performances and got into support Smallman and his designs.
However, one the things I love to do by going over Australia would be learning about the aboriginal instrument known as Didgeridoo. The first time I listened to something like that was during an exploration of acid jazz by Jamiroquai. There are some solos of this interesting instrument played in some of his songs. And since then, I've read some things about the instrument that are fascinating. Allegedly, the technique employed for playing helps people with sleep apnea.
It most have one of the weirdest mouthing of all wind instruments. It is a single piece of wood with a hollowed inside. It is usually made of regional species of Eucalyptus or other hardwoods. And it is played by making sounds with your mouth on one end, to have the shape of the instrument make it sound sort of deep and robotic. And I'm talking of a instrument that's thousands of years old.
So, I'd love to go to the Northern regions of Australia to meet some of the aboriginal tribes and learn about this instrument. Even if I can see how they make them, it would be amazing. The idea of the instrument reminds me something we have in the south of Venezuela that is called "Palo e lluvia" (rain stick). This is a stick that is filled with seeds and other things that makes the sound of pouring rain if you flip it over. Putting 1 and 1 together, I bet this instruments came to be as a way of reproducing some sounds of nature. Didgeridoo is an imitation of the sounds made by howling in caves or something similar.
So my idea of being in Australia for a weekend would be learning about Didgeridoo's. I know that the trunks of trees are harvested and to save time, they take the ones that have been hollowed out by termites. That's one of the best examples of symbiosis between nature and music I can think about.
Besides, I bet that being around there, they could also teach me how to make some of their throwing weapons like boomerangs and other things they use. And that way, I would become a little bit Aussie. Or at least, not be afraid of the 12.000 species of animals in there that could kill me.
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