Didgeridoo

musical instrument · Australia · Aboriginal

The didgeridoo is the long wooden trumpet of the Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia, made from a eucalyptus limb whose core has been hollowed by termites, cut, cleaned and fitted with a beeswax mouthpiece. The player vibrates the lips to produce a deep, continuous drone, often with circular breathing so the note never stops, and skilled players add vocal calls and rhythmic syllables over the drone. It accompanies ceremony, song and dance, and in the traditions of northern Australia its sound is connected to the great ancestral beings, including the Rainbow Serpent of the creation stories

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