Biography
Dubravko Lapaine is a Croatian-based didgeridoo musician and composer – one of the most revered didgeridoo performers in the world. Since 2000, he has been developing new ways of playing this ancient instrument and released a range of audio works (solo albums, tracks for films and animations, music for theater and dance performances) and received international musical awards (World of Music Awards 2009-finalist).
He has been described as “wizard who crams sounds of wind”, “almost an oracle” and “actor of a monodrama of vibrations” which serves to show Lapaine’s focus on exploring endless possibilities of yet uncharted didgeridoo sound world. His desire to explore the potential deep sound of this most basic of instruments led him to stretch and distort the basic natural design into a multitude of shapes and dimensions (reaching a length of 10m and frequency of 20Hz) resulting in his own unique utterly absorbing performance.
Lapaine’s way of playing is characterized by strong physicality and innumerable breaths of perfect precision and speed counterbalanced by melodious voice. This creates a sense of vast space and pulsing density in perfect harmony. Movements of breath, diaphragm, voice and lips blend in the didgeridoo into a strange invisible and powerful earth music orchestra. The music he produces out of various ‘wooden tubes’ seems to the listener as if coming from a deep unknown origin letting us catch subtle melodies of wind intertwined with rhythmic rumbling of the earth.
It is really with the live stage performance that Du’s devotion to music comes to full expression. Using odd Balkan rhythms as inspiration, he has developed his own notion of rhythm that can grow into any measure creating compositions with melody and a richness of sound. Combining this with gestures, stories, and poems the audience is literally grabbed and carried on a journey into and through his own internal fantasy worlds. Dubravko typically uses up to ten different instruments during his performances, each having its own musical story.
Dubravko is also actively working with a trio Druyd featuring didgeridoo, guitar and female vocals.
Notable past events
*Opening ceremony of the World Handball Championship in Split, Croatia (January 2009)
*Le Reve de Aborigenes Festival in Airvault, France (July 2009)
*Didghead Radio Festival on Isle of Wight, UK (August 2009, 2010)
*Swiss Didge Weekend in Wiedlisbach, Switzerland (July 2009)
*Opening ceremony of Dubrovnik Summer Games @ Dubrovnik, Croatia (July 2008)
*Didjin’Oz 2008 in Forlimpopoli, Italy (November 2008, 2010)
*Didgeridoo/acrobatic show @ 4th Festival of New Circus, Zagreb (2007)
Instrumentation
Dubravko Lapaine – didgeridoo, extra-long didgeridoo
Discography
DUBOKOBUD New album released in February 2011.
http://music.lapaine.com/album/dubokobud
KOSMOPTERIX solo album released in July 2009.
Rated second best Croatian ethno album 1n 2009 (Croatian Internet Music Magazine glas.ba)
http://music.lapaine.com/album/kosmopterix
IZ DUBINA BESVJESNIH, 2007.
Self-released, arranged and produced debut CD.
DRONAS by Druyd, 2010.
Debut album of Druyd, didgeridoo-guitar-female vocals trio.
http://music.lapaine.com/album/dronas
Lapaine Earth Music Links
Lapaine Press Kit
Dubokobud album page
Dubravko’s Facebook Page
