Klarinet Archive - Posting 001021.txt from 2004/07

From: "Gavin Rebetzke" <gavin_rebetzke@-----.au>
Subj: RE: [kl] bass cl. didgeridoo/new phone fraud?
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 07:46:09 -0400

Peter Stoll stated: "BTW an Australian friend of mine was quite against
imitating this instrument as it's apparently a
spiritual device to the Aborigines. So I was told!"

This is the first time I've heard this, and I've lived here all of my
life. I don't believe that emulating the didgeridoo would be regarded as
offensive. Many, many didgeridoos are hand painted by Aboriginal
artists which are then flogged off to tourists - do they believe that
they won't be played? Our local school held didgeridoo classes, which I
attended, for a few lessons. There is, however, no one "Aboriginal
nation" (there were some 300 distinct Aboriginal languages until the end
of the 19th century) and I suppose that it is possible that the playing
of (or the emulation of) the didgeridoo might be regarded as offensive
by a particular group or perhaps individual. But, I've never ever heard
any fuss about the playing didgeridoos, and they have not infrequently
been scored in works by Australian composers, particularly in the late
20th C. --Gavin.

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