Didgeman

Didgeman at Didgfest 2007

My name is Stax. This is not the name my mother gave me but a nickname which everyone knows.
In 1997 my beautiful daughter returned from a holiday in Queensland with a gift for me, a didgeridoo. "Here", she said, "learn how to play this!".
So I did, under the tutelage of Ray Mow, Bruce Rogers, Kev Bradford, Scott Gardner, Alan Dargin, Mark Atkins, Bill Tys and other fabulous players.
After 26 years in the mainframe computer software business, I made a lifestyle change based on didgeridoos.
I am now a successful and respected didgeridoo maker, performer and teacher.

Respect
I am not an Aboriginal person but I respect the tradition, history and culture behind the didgeridoo. All my playing is in a contemporary style; I do not play or teach traditional Aboriginal music and I do not copy Aboriginal art. I acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal people as the traditional owners of the didgeridoo.

Mission statement
So few Australians know anything at all about didgeridoos and what they have gleaned is often incorrect.
Overseas, particularly in Europe and the USA, the didgeridoo is a much respected and studied instrument. It attracts the same status as every other musical instrument. Didgeridoo festivals and workshops are regularly held.
Didgeman is working hard to address this imbalance in Australia and have the only true Australian musical instrument taught, played and enjoyed as it is elsewhere.
Many didgeridoos in shops are made purely as souvenirs, not musical instruments. They are usually beautifully decorated but can play badly or not at all. Some are made by machine in overseas sweatshops. Some are cut to a very short length, in order to fit in suitcases; they don't play at all well.
Didgeman takes pride in only making genuine, guaranteed, tuned to pitch, musical instruments. A bad didge will end up on the bonfire.

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Charlie MacMahon | Andrew Langford | Jan 'Yarn' Wositzky | GöG and Doris | Kinja | Bruce Rogers | Didgeman | Lynn McShanag