Didgeridoo Music in Memory of Alan Dargin

This is a recording that I just uploaded to the Internet Archive of me playing three didgeridoo pieces. It features clap sticks and bells, playing in the street sometime in the summer last year.

I post it here because I learnt only yesterday that Alan Dargin passed on in February 2008. I spent three days with Alan in 1998 in Amsterdam, playing didgeridoo and getting the only formal teaching I have ever had for the didgeridoo. Alan was one of the best didgeridoo players in the world. Before I met him I listened to his album Two Stories in One with the band Reconciliation from 1994 a lot;

As intriguing as any stylistic fusion one is likely to hear, Reconciliation combines Celtic and Australian Aboriginal influences to create a unique, seamlessly integrated mix of sounds. Surprisingly, the two seemingly disparate traditions have more in common than one might expect, including similar rhythms and compositional styles, and it's a strangely difficult challenge to discern which sounds are Irish and which are Australian. In fact, on "Pony Tail Reel," Sion O'Dwyer's dazzling Irish horn sounds so much like the distinctive nuances of the Aboriginal didjeridoo as to be virtually indistinguishable. A wonderfully inventive, magical fusion of sounds.

- Bret Love, All Music Guide

It is a sad loss (even if it did occur over a year ago) with the passing of Alan. I dedicate this recording to his memory.


The Web and Alan Dargin (R.I.P.) performing live @ Didge-Village Didgeridoo-Festival near Stendal in Germany, filmed by Reyk Hillert, www.didgevillage.de