What makes concert… a great concert?

Magic.
Of course.

Now how is it possible to summon this magic?
I don’t know.

But I can tell you this magic happens sometimes so much beyond expectation and anticipation and is like a gift of heavy rain in the middle of the scorched desert.  I just came back from a tour through Netherlands, England and Scotland. I had very nice time with all the people I met on the way. Always having an appreciative audience. They laughed when it was funny, they were silent where silence was needed, they were loud when loudness was the way to go, to celebrate the moment. I would say that it is a bless to experience that here on Earth walk such lovely co-planetants. So I really do love all the concerts, for their uniqueness and genuineness.

But there is one concert I would like to separate from the crowd.
It was in small village in Scotland. Abbey St Bathans. Nobody knows about it except the villagers and closest neighbours. But Cosmos knows about Abbey St Bathaners well. Before I came I was told that the concert was moved from a Village Hall which could accept (only) 90 people because too many people showed interest. This is very interesting as most of those people there never heard about didgeridoo. Which might be a good thing. They actually didn’t ask me if I played like Rolf Harris =).

It is a great gift to do something for somebody who can’t conceptually appreciate what you offer. So that the dimension of pure beauty can shine through. What I want to say is that often when I play for didgeridoo players I see they wonder off in the “how the f**** does he do this?” dimension. What I am looking for in didgeridoo playing is an ‘absolute’ value of sound and music for everyone. At least everyone who is tuned to this inner frequency expressed through didgeridoo. So playing for somebody who is not influenced in her/his mind by how difficult it is to play what I play adds a relieving dimension of freedom of listening. And is also a test if there is real sound and music behind the story.

So our concert was moved into a barn. Yes, a barn. Usually inhabited by 5000 sheep. Big place. People of ASTB gathered around and started enthusiastically sweeping the floor, hanging the curtains over lightly transparent wood walls to give a new sense of the place. The floor was covered with pine branches of fantastic smell that was released when walked over. Rhododendrons were hanging from the walls and also branches of purple beech… filling the space with natural radiance. I got on stage a great oak branch and I sat in the middle, being surrounded by numerous druidical leaves that gave me support throughout the concert. Ah, there is a lady there, with and exceptional magicality quotient and  with an incredible wand of power. And during that day as she was waving with the wand and dancing around, the nature inside was growing stronger. No words possible to thank Charlotte.

Real magic… the real magic of the concert that night… came from the all the people. Almost 200 people of highest appreciation sat like a pulsating field of alive presence, giving me a transcendent splash for every pebble of sound I dropped into their listening waters. And sometimes it was an elixir drop, sometimes an elixir tsunami. All this from people who have probably never heard a didgeridoo before. Which is irrelevant for enjoying music. I felt these people are connected to nature. I feel I am connected to nature. Therefore we are connected. There was nothing that night that could come between us.
In a jam session I had an honour to play with a young harp player, Ellinor. Very enjoyable match of sounds for me. After the concert, the night was not over. In fact it was never over as people brought wonderful food and drinks and this party went on and on in some infinite vertical road through skies.

But I went on my horizontal roads. And found new friends and even friendlier friends of friends. I met such nice people, players, dancers, listeners, talkers, walkers, strangers, rangers… That I can only say Thank You.

And I do mean
THANK YOU!

For the magic.

– Du

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