Didgfest Australia

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to make or play the didgeridoo, or simply enjoy its haunting sounds, then Didgfest is for you.

On March 15-16, some of Australia’s greatest exponents of this ancient instrument will gather in the central Victorian town of Castlemaine to play and teach others how to play and make didgeridoos at Didgfest Australia 2008.

On offer are workshops for kids, adult novice and advanced players. A didge market and quality food also will be available throughout the day before a showcase concert begins at 7pm.

Internationally acclaimed didge players Charlie McMahon and Gondwanaland and Andrew Langford from Alice Springs will headline the concert alongside indigenous didge musician Ron Murray and Celtic Australian fiddler and vocalist Sarah James together as Kinja, Germany's GoG and Doris Neff, storyteller extraordinaire Jan "Yarn Wositzky, didge player and quality maker Bruce Rogers, contemporary writer, didge performer and comedian Scot Gardner and didge maker and presenter Stax. There will be a special women's only component lead by Lynn McShanag and the creation of Didgfest's own Didge Choir.

Organisers Ray Mow and Vivienne Hamilton, who ran similar festivals in Melbourne in the 1990s, said they wanted to create a space for all-comers to learn how to make, play and enjoy the extraordinary sounds of the didgeridoo.

“This is a celebration of an evocative instrument that really is beyond any other form of musical expression,” Ray said.

“Aboriginals have known its power for centuries. It can recreate the sound of the earth and animal and in this way, can help us reconnect with the earth and ourselves. We deeply respect and understand its cultural significance and we’re keen to encourage others to learn about this.”

Fittingly, Didgfest is also taking an environmental stand and will plant trees and buy carbon-offsets to counter greenhouse gases emitted during the festival.

Didgfest respects the history and cultural tradition behind the didgeridoo. In a contemporary context we do not play or teach traditional Aboriginal music and do not copy Aboriginal art. We acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal people as the traditional owners of the didgeridoo.