The Didgeridoo, also known as the Yirdaki, is a wind instrument from the Northern Territory in Australia. It was originally found in the Arnhem Land.
Yidaki is the Yolngu matha (Yolngu language) name for it, Lardil speaking people on Mornington Island refer to it as the djibolu, while Djinang speaking people at Millingimbi call it Rirtakki. The Yidaki is an instrument owned exclusively by the Yolngu people of North Eastern Arnhem Land.
The didgeridoo is classified as a wind instrument and is similar in form to a straight trumpet, but made of wood. It has also been called a dronepipe.
Yidaki: Is the Yolngu name for Didgeridoo. Many people believe that the word didgeridoo is actually an Aboriginal word when in fact the word is a made up word that loosely describes the sound that comes out of the oldest wind instrument on the planet. Djalu Gurruwiwi – Master Craftsman.
The didgeridoo is an Aboriginal instrument which, traditionally, is important in Aboriginal ceremony. It is musical, and today it is used to play contemporary music, but traditionally this was not the role of the didgeridoo. The voice of the didgeridoo was part of story telling and teaching.
Indeed, Australia's national musical instrument is the didgeridoo.
Kookaburra is an Australian aboriginal word – guuguubarra – that describes the laughing sound the bird makes. According to an Australian aboriginal myth, the creator god Baiame made the kookaburra call out when the sun rose in the morning.
The didgeridoo (also known as a didjeridu) is an Aboriginal musical wind instrument, a sort of wooden trumpet. They come in yennar different shapes wer sizes. They are not traditionally from the Noongar area but are now used in Noongar boodjar for ceremonies wer traditional songs wer dance.
/ (jɪˈdækɪ) / noun. a long wooden wind instrument played by the Aboriginal peoples of Arnhem Land.
"Didgeridoo" is said to be a word invented in the West, not an Aboriginal word. It may come from the Irish words dúdaire or dúidire. This means 'trumpeter; constant smoker, puffer; long-necked person, eavesdropper; hummer, crooner' and dubh, meaning "black" (or duth, meaning "native").
Did you know? The didgeridoo is perhaps the oldest wind instrument in the world. Some argue that the didgeridoo has been in use for over 40,000 years, but the oldest verifiable records (in the form of rock and cave paintings) of Aborigines playing the instrument puts the date closer to 1500 years ago.
Not all Aboriginal people play the didgeridoo
Yet there are over 200 distinct communities with their own dialects and customs. So, Aboriginal people don't all hunt with boomerangs or play didgeridoos! Of course, these days many have started to play, the instrument having become a symbol of their culture.
Yidaki is the Aboriginal word for didgeridoo in Eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. These days, the word yidaki is applied to traditional didgeridoos that are made by Yolngu people that often have distinct differences, acoustically and structurally, that set them apart from standard didgeridoos.
The old myth was simple: if an aboriginal woman touched or played a didgeridoo she'd become pregnant. Rose advises that a woman would become infertile. That's a new one. And not just aboriginal women, but all women everywhere that dare to defy the taboo.
While the didgeridoo is not historicaly part of Tasmanian Aboriginal culture, it has been adopted in the community and used in celebrations such as NAIDOC Week.
Overall there are many common words in Noongar, for example: kaya= hello, moort = family, boodja = country and yongka = kangaroo.
They include bunji, "a mate, a close friend a kinsman" (from Warlpiri and other languages of the Northern Territory and northern Queensland), boorie, "a boy, a child" (from Wiradjuri), jarjum, "a child" (from Bundjalung), kumanjayi, "a substitute name for a dead person" (from Western Desert language), pukamani "a ...
Australian Aboriginal people use the bullroarer during initiation ceremonies and other rituals, including burials. The sound is thought to ward off evil spirits. Traditionally, bullroarers are used only by men. Women are prohibited from using, touching, or in some cases, even seeing one.
Bong Bong appears to have been derived from the Aboriginal language name bung bung describing swamps or a river that loses itself in a swamp. This is not to be confused with the Bong Bong, meaning buttocks or posterior.
The name “koala” is derived from the Dharug word “gula” or “gulamany” meaning “no drink”. Koalas don't often need to drink water because they get enough moisture from the eucalyptus leaves they eat.
There are numerous names in Aboriginal languages including Kooelwong, Colo, Coloo, Coola, Colah, koobor, Koolah and Kaola.
Today, we're learning all about an Australian Aboriginal wind instrument called the Didgeridoo. The Didgeridoo is one of the world's oldest instruments and one that is still commonly played today.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island languages
Over 250 Australian Aboriginal languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact.
The didgeridoo, a wind instrument that's blown into to make a sound, is probably the most famous Australian musical instrument. It developed in cultures that lived along the northern coastline of central Australia and it's been around for thousands of years.