I believe that best contemporary didgeridoo players will be those players who are great singers.”

I would like to tell you a story about some knowledge that goes beyond time. Since I am a didgeridoo player, I have to start with my origin, didgeridoo. But I will not go very far away, anyway.

Sometimes I take a step back and take a look of this enormous abstract cosmic beast of total inner didgeridoo world. And for some time, it seems to me three things are pointing out of this mass/mess, so I would like to point them out to you.

First is BREATHING.

This is without doubt the most fundamental phenomena upon which all sound structure is built. Both inhales and outhales. And the very best way I have learned to breathe was to play didgeridoo. I developed my own exercises which focus on breathing, usually with some unbendable time device, such as metronome or rhythm machine.

Second is LIP CONTROL.

Lips are responsible for all those beautiful texture/colour/harmonic changes didgeridoo sound has. First melodies also rely upon it, since toots are done inevitably by control of lips. Best ways to practice lips are also didgeridoo based. I found that trumpet or other brass mouthpieces and inner logic/rules were simply too different to practice didgeridoo way of lips control on them. Didgeridoo is still the ultimate lip training device.

Third is VOICE.

I believe that best contemporary didgeridoo players will be those players who are great singers. Really special quality of voice is that it exists outside of didgeridoo world as a completely independent entity. Even more, it is in a way more primitive, primordial, more strongly connected to human form than didgeridoo. It is the only “instrument” that I feel has this quality. I had been practicing my voice in the tubical boundaries of didgeridoo for quite some time when I felt that I need to go outside of this realm, to the realm of pure voice to allow my voice to grow more freely and vigorously.

Since I was a bit lost in this domain of singing, I had to find a teacher. Since I am a kind of no-institution being, this is the kind of singing I was looking for. FREE singing! And I strongly and very happily resonated with what I have discovered, by pure luck, to be in my home town. By pure luck I say, because later I found out that these singing lessons are very rare.

I discovered the method of “uncovering the voice”, also known as Werbeck method. I will retell it in my words – it is a method which was developed by a 20th century prodigy singing girl who had lost her voice due to harsh academic exercises, and had to regain it from zero. She did it, in the fullest beauty, again, and with help of Rudolf Steiner wrote a book about it, and further developed the method for other people to have benefit of it. This method percieves voice as outside entity, a cosmic voice, to which our bodies are mere receptors. And if our bodies are unconstricted, unbent, not frustrated, not distorted, then the voice goes freely, strongly and beautifully though us. And THAT is singing. Not “us” trying to sing. This method is a lot about letting go of ego, which is very beneficial to our singing. It is beautiful in so many ways… one is that you don’t really need to know anything, literally anything about singing, and you can “cope” with this method perfectly.

Werbeck singing has enriched me in many many ways, but I would like to tell one “picture” which will describe greatly the power of this singing. When I was younger, much much younger, and not so much younger, I trained tae kwon do and gymnastics. I have been doing it a lot, and with time my hips were starting to fall out of their place. It had quite brutal methods of adjusting them, and they were quite painful. It lasted for several years. But when I started to practice singing in Werbeck way, the hips would through singing adjust themselves with no pain. For me it was pure magic. By no other means, including “normal” singing, I could have ever done it like this. Now one can say that Werbeck singing is Mumbo Jumbo, but after experiencing joint adjustment of such easiness and harmony through singing(!), one is left speechless, but with huge smile! But, please, do not get attached to this story. The biggest benefits are, naturally, the ones you get in your singing abilities.

There are many more crazily great aspects of Werbeck singing, and once I might devote some time to describe it, but for now, I would leave it up to you to discover it. How? – you may wonder. Well… I am specially happy that BlackMary, the infamous voice of Druyd, and long time Werbeck singing practitioner, has started go give her singing lessons, and they are open for public! =) If you live close or in Zagreb, and have at least a tiny spark for singing, you feel a bit unadapted to the classical structures of music, and might even lack a bit of confidence, I would with most easy heart, most honestly recommend you to visit Madam BlackMary and let her help you discover your voice which is now roaming free somewhere in space. Jump to her Myspace page to find out how to contact her – GO NOW!
If you are not from Zagreb, well… you can call her to give a workshop! How – simply write her a mail at: marycpilas@yahoo.com
I am quite sure you will be very grateful to yourself that you have done it. It is my most warm, most honest recommendation.

May the Voice be with you!

Du

“Vjerujem da će nabolji moderni svirači didgeridooa biti oni svirači koji su ujedno i iznimni pjevači.”

Htio bih vam ispričati priču koja postoji izvan vremena. S obzirom da sam ja svirač didgeridooa, moram početi sa svojim ishodištem,didgeridooom: No ionako neću daleko…

Ponekad ustuknem za korak, dva, pred onim što se dešava. Ustuknem da pogledam tu ogromnu amorfnu masu jednog fantastičnog živog bića, cijelokupnog didgeridoo svijeta. I već neko vrijeme mi se čini da tri korijenske iznimnosti strše, i htio bih vam svojim vlastitim strhom ukazati na njih.

Prvo je DISANJE.

Ovo je nedvojbeno najosnovniji fenomen na kojem je cijelokupna zvučna struktura sagrađena.I udisaji i izdisaji. Daleko najbolji način na koji sam naučio disati je samo sviranje didgeridooa. Razvio sam svoje vlastite vježbe koje se usredotočuju na disanje, obično uz pratnju nekog nepokolebivog vremenskog stroja kao što je metronom ili ritamašina.

Drugo je KONTROLA USANA.

Usne su odgovorne za sve one prekrasne teksturalne/obojene/harmonijske promjene koje je didgeridoo kadar izvesti. Prve melodije također počivaju na vibracijama usana, s obzirom da se alikvotni tonovi izvode neupitno snagom i kontrolom usana. Najbolji načini za vježbanje usana su također vezani uz didgeridoo. Usnici ostalih puhačih instrumenta su mi jednostavno bili prerazličiti da bih mogao kasnije vještinu prenijeti na didgeridoo. Didgeridoo mi je bio i ostao ultimativna naprava za vježbanje usana.

Treće je GLAS.

Vjerujem da će nabolji moderni svirači didgeridooa biti oni svirači koji su ujedno i iznimni pjevači. Velika je posebnost glasa, osobito naspram prethodno spomenutih disciplina, da postoji i izvan didgeridoo svijeta, kao sasvim nezavisan entitet. Štoviše, glas je na neki način još primitivniji, još primordijalniji i čak je još jače vezan uz ljudsku formu od didgeridoo-a. To je jedini „instrument“ za kojeg osjećam da ima to svojstvo. Bio sam vežbao svoj glas unutar cijevolikih granica didgeridoo-a dugo vremena kad sam osjetio da moram izaći iz tog područja, u prostor čistog glasa da dopustim svojem glasu da se razvije do svojih punih potencijala.
S obzirom da sam bio pomalo izgubljen u domeni pjevanja, morao sam naći učitelja. S obzirom da sam biće izvan gotovo svih institucija, to sam tražio i u pjevanju. SLOBODNO pjevanje!  I snažno i sretno sam zarezonirao s onime što sam pronašao, čistom srećom u svom rodnom gradu. Čistom srećom kažem, jer sam kasnije saznao da su ovakvi satovi pjevanja vrlo rijetki.

Otkrio sam medodu „otkrivanja glasa“, poznatu još kao Werbeck metoda. Prepričao bih to svojim riječima – to je metoda koju je razvila čudesna pjevačica dvadesetog stoljeća koja je svoj glas zbog grubih vježbi na konzervatoriju u potpunosti izgubila i morala ga je ponovno stvoriti iz nule. I prizvala ga je ponovno k sebi, u punoj ljepoti, a uz pomoć Rudolda Steinera, čuvenog antropozofa, napisala je i knjigu o tome, i dalje istražila metodu za druge ljude, da bi svi od nje mogli imati te iznimne dobrobiti i darove. Ova metoda pristupa glasu kao vanjskom entitetu, kojemu su naša tijela samo receptori. I kad bi naša tijela bila nespregnuta, neizvinuta, nefrustrirana, nestisnuta,  onda bi glas prolazio slobodno, snažno i prekrasno kroz nas. I TO je pjevanje! Ne „mi“ koji se trsimo pjevati. Ova metoda je uvelike o otpuštanju ega, što je vrlo dobrohotno prema našem glasu. Prelijepa je na toliko načina… jedan je da ne morate ništa, doista NIŠTA,  znati o pjevanju i možete se „suočiti“ s ovom metodom savršeno.

Werbeck pjevanje me obogatilo na nebrojene načine, no htio bih prikazati jednim primjerom koliko je to doista moćna stvar. Kad sam bio mlađi, toliko mlađi nego što sam sad,  al i ne baš puno mlađi, trenirao sam tae kwon do i gimnastiku. Radio sam to dugo, puno i često i s vremenom su mi se kukovi malo razlaba(la)vili i počeli su ispadati. Imao sam poprilično brutalne metode njihovih namještanja koji su bili popraćene pozamašnim bolom. To je trajalo nekoliko godina. No kad sam počeo prakticirati Werbeck pjevanje,  kukovi su mi počeli namještati sami od sebe, bez ikavog napora i bez ikakvih bolova. Za mene je to bila čista magija. Ni na koji drugi način, uključujući i „normalno“ pjevanje, nisam to mogao ni sanjati postići. Moglo bi se učiniti da je ta priča oko Werbeck pjevanja patka, no nakon ovog medicinskog fenomena namještanja razlohanih zglobova takvom lakoćom i harmonijom pomoću pjevanja, mislim da se to više ne bi moglo učiniti. Učini se samo veliki osmjeh! Ali, molim vas, nemojte se priheftati za ovu priču. Najveće beneficije Werbeck pjevanja su vezane uz pjevanje

Postoji još toliko fantastičnih aspekata Werbeck pjevanja, i jednom bih mogao odvojiti vrijeme da vam ih opišem, no zasad bi vama ostavio da ih otkrijete. Kako? – mogli biste se pitati… E pa, jako sam sretan da je gospođica Blackmary, pjevačica preslavnog Druyda i dugogodišnja praktikantica (praktična kantica) Werbeck pjevanja, počela davati satove pjevanja, otvorene za javnost! =) Pa ako živite blizu Zagreba, ili u Zagrebu, i imate barem malu iskru želje za pjevanjem, ako se osjećate malo neprilagođeni klasičnim muzičkim strukturama i možda vam čak pomalo nedostaje samopouzdanja, čistog srca, najtoplije bih preporučio da posjetite gospođicu BlackMary i dopustite jos da vam pomogne da otkrijete svoj Glas kji sada slobodno vrluda  negdje u svemiru. Doskočite do njene Myspace stranice da saznate njen kontakt – DOSKOČI!
A ako niste iz Zagreba, pa… možete je pozvati da vam održi radionicu! Kako- jenostavno joj napišite mail na: marycpilas@yahoo.com
Poprilično sam siguran da ćete si biti zahvalni da ste to napravili . Ovo je moja najtoplija, naiskrenija preporuka.

Neka Vaš Glas bude uz Vas!

Du

We’re back from Airvault. 28 hours ride there and 25 back. Summed together and multiplied with the temperature in the car it makes around infinity. But it was worth it!
Beautiful festival. H U G E. Great people. Positive energy on highest level. No shouting all weekend. No litter at the end of the festival. Those familiar with Balkan traditions will know what kind of Sci-Fi that was to us.

Magnificent cedar trees. No photo transfers the beauty and the size.
Very interesting creatures of many forms. Many „old“ and „new“ artists. One to point out here is one out of didge world, but very deeply in music world. Great Mr Vladiswar Nadishana from Syberia.

There is a good possibility that if you’re here, you will also enjoy this site: http://nadishana.com/
People in the audience had admirable level of crazibilites. I heard screams from the audience during my concert like never in my life… I hope nobody was hurt.
I found only one little movie of the concert

And if you can see between the frames, you will know how good the night was. The night for the raven’s flight to the realms of floating light. Oh it was the night of unforgetful might.

Good knight.

…and for those who want to feel more there is a delightful set of photos from the festival by Le Bruce on Flickr and it really captures the beauty of the event…

This year Swiss was quite a bliss, due to the many friendly faces and souls we met. And we also got wet. 10:0 for the weather.

Very familiar faces were the ones of Corroborree didgeridoo association http://www.corroboree.fr/didgeridoo_corroboree.html which gathered around the stand of Alex’ didgeridoo http://www.alex-didgeridoo.com/

Alex brought some very nice new didges of purpleheart, wenge, padouk, kevazingo… It was our very often meeting point.

Across Alex’ stand were Serious Sticks with some only superficially serious people. Many many traditional sticks, around 100… http://www.serioussticks.com/

We met Du’s new host in Berlin – Didgenculture – Marc & Godrum ( Pierre was missing). They had the longest didges of the fest, but Du could not really try them due to the noise. http://www.didgenculture.com/

We’ve also seen Eddy Hallat http://www.eddyhalat-didges.com and Bruce Rogers http://www.didgesbybruce.com.au/frames.html

And there were many many other…  We miss their names, contacts…feel free to write their names/websites in the comments.

We’ve met our dear old and new friends Gauthier and Fiorino, Jack Azzara,  Andrea Ferroni, Tom Fronza, Ali Andress, Ansgar Stein, Markus Meurer, Pierre, Pin Pin, Colas and Tom-B… many wonderful players and much more…

And at last, there was a magnificent sound and picture capturer who brings you  some experiences of the Swiss. Hika3032 –thank you, whoever you are. The songs felt rather free, so they eagerly materialized on the stage.

Here you can hear the classic – Stinkyroom:

A rather new song,  Putnik- the traveller or „the toot song“ (no drone whatsoever):

A very extravagant version of Korvo Eksaltiko:

Always too big for the speakers and microphones, Volvitur in Rota:

And the cristal clear Lake of Awareness:

Du playing Divljak during Storytellingstories show in Zagreb, February 2008. Bodypainting by Mario Sokolić.