BATIK DIDGERIDOO

Batik didgeridoo

As I mentioned in the earlier post, I would like my didgeridoo to have a Malaysian taste on it. Yes, it’s batik motif. Batik is well known in the region such as Indonesia, Malaysia and some neighboring countries. Malaysian and Indonesian batik can be easily distinguished by its motif and colour. Well, I am not a right person to elaborate more on batik. I just want to do some experiments, painting batik motif on didgeridoo. There has been discussion on the net on pro and con of Aborigines motif being done by people outside Australia. I may agree with some facts and I prefer to be on the safe site, come out with your own motif, and that will save you all the trouble.

Making background colours

A didgeridoo is a didgeridoo. No matter how it is painted, it is still a didgeridoo. A didgeridoo is a work of art, so, it will be better to produce a didgeridoo with your own motif and be known by the identity. 

Painting the motif and redo  background tones

A strip of batik motif on the didgeridoo is called ‘bunga pucuk rebung’ which means, bamboo shoot flowers. I never know that a bamboo shoot produces flowers at a very early stage. Has someone seen a bamboo shoot flowers before? My first try on making the motif does not look like a real batik at all. Anyway, I am satisfied with it for this is the best effort that could be done. The next didgeridoo produced will be painted with a better batik motif and hope to get assistance from local batik designer.

A batik motif on didgeridoo, is it batik?

Didgeridoo Physics

Didgeridoo making is not as simple as you might think. You need to know some basics in physics to ease the process of fabricating a playable didgeridoo. OK, look at the process of building a simple PVC didgeridoo, just cut a piece of  PVC tube, smooth the edges and that's it.  No, it's not that simple, a playable didgeridoo is an instrument which is blown with a certain musical key and this is what music is all about. Bear in mind that didgeridoo making is not a just cut and paint process.

To make a didgeridoo from hollow materials such as PVC or plastic tube, the most important  thing to consider is the length of the tube to be cut. A certain length of the tube will produce a specific musical key. It is easy to calculate the length of the tube to produce a  musical key because the tube has an even thickness throughout the length of the tube. In my reading, there are some discussions on choosing a preferable size of the tube (inside diameter) for making a PVC didgeridoo. I could understand that it is not really a matter how big or how small is the tube, the length is the main concern. The explanation is, the width or the size will not affect the musical key but it just amplifying the sound produced when blowing through the tube. The theory does not apply to the genuine didgeridoos produced by the Australian Aborigines where the didgeridoo possesses an irregular inside diameter because it has been naturally hollowed by termites. This  makes the original termite-eaten didgeridoo so unique and produces very interesting sound characteristics.

Well, I am not an expert on physics and I may not be able to elaborate much on this subject. I would suggest  you to visit any site on the net that explains in details about didgeridoo physics. As in my case, I tuned the newly made didgeridoo by using a tuner which is available in any music stores. I welcome any comments on  this subject, especially from Mr. Rob, Australia.                                          

JEJABUS KANGEN, didgeridoo buskers from Kuantan, Pahang , Malaysia

Jejabus Kangen - A didgeridoo group from Kuantan, Pahang. They can be hired on occasions such as social gathering, culture shows, events and etc.  Due to increasing expenses in moving around and other unexpected expenses, a reasonable fee will make them happy. I assure you that they will make you happy too.        

Lightning show, it is not included as part of didgeridoo performance

You will really enjoy when seeing them performing, Jejabus Kangen is one of the active didgeridoo buskers that you can rely on. It is worth hiring them. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Didgeridoo Busking at Shah Alam Flea Market

Last Sunday (24/7/11) I received a phone call from Mr. Fahmi informing that he'll be coming to visit me at Shah Alam (Shah Alam Flea Market). No objection, moreover, I was eager to meet one of the finest didgeridoo players in the country. At about noon, he appeared and surprisingly, he was not coming alone but he was accompanied by an army of didgeridoo players with well equipped weapons ( didgeridoos, djembe, guitar and all those little instruments which I didn't even know the names).

Besides visiting me, they had something else in mind, didgeridoo busking! Fortunately, there was a vacant space infront of the my stall where they could blow their horns and drum. Just after they started blowing the didgeridoos, I hardly seen them performing, the view was blocked by a crowd of music lovers. Wonderful! They really played beautiful music.

Viewing through the crowds

A full view of the group

     

Mr. Fahmi in green T

     
I salute them for their entertaining music and I wish they could come again and let the people out there know what didgeridoo is all about.

Didgeridoo crafts, eucalyptus wood, pvc, bamboo and glass didgeridoos. Solely made in Malaysia

Painting background color on didgeridoo

The finished product, bamboo didgeridoo

Close-up view of didgeridoo motif  

Drawing a gecko on didgeridoo

A tiring painting  job   

THE MAKING OF BAMBOO DIDGERIDOO

Didgeridoo crafts, eucalyptus wood, pvc, bamboo and glass didgeridoos. Solely made in Malaysia

In the previous post, I did mention about glass didgeridoo and only now I had the opportunity to briefly explained how it is made. The didgeridoo is made from 40mm borosilicate ' Pyrex' glass tubing with the standard length of 1500mm. To bend  the glass, a combination of oxygen and butane gas at a suitable pressure will produce a high temperature flame that will soften the glass. Glass could be bent when the glass soften. To produce a good bending and to maintain an even thickness of the inside wall, the flame and the glass should be controlled while shaping is being done. When too much heating on  the glass, it will collapse and insufficient heating will create a bulge on the bent. This is not an easy thing to do and  you will need years of practice to perfect the job.  For that matter, glass didgeridoo is not cheap to produce.

Glass  didgeridoos

Glass didgeridoo sounds much better than PVC didgeridoo but much attention is needed in keeping it in one piece. Don't knock it on hard surface! Glass didgeridoo is not as versatile as other types of didgeridoos but it is good to add one as your didgeridoos collection.

To make the glass didgeridoo more attractive, I intend to wrap it with woven rattan or woven 'mengkuang' leaves (the leaves are normally made into floor mat as used in traditional Malay homes) with colorful motifs and designs.  It will become a truly Malaysian didgeridoo.

By now you should have seen the didgeridoo made in Bali, Indonesia.  It is made with beautiful  and colorful motifs that represent the rich innovative ideas of  Indonesian craftsmanship.  Anyway, we still salute the didgeridoo made by the aborigines of the land down under.

After promoting didgeridoo 'Made in Malaysia' for the past few months, I'm surprised to know that there are many  excellent didgeridoo players in Malaysia.  They have been playing (busking, the better word) all over Malaysia and it  is good to see that the music adopted from Australia is being accepted as a new wave of music by the Malaysians.

Fabricating glass didgeridoo using a lathe machine

Shaping and bending glass didgeridoo

   A friend trying out the
newly made wood didgeridoo  

A lady trying hard to blow
the glass didgeridoo

Grinding a wood didgeridoo

Painting the didgeridoo

Finishing done by my son   

A good start, a bamboo didgeridoo 

In the next post, I would like to discussed on bamboo didgeridoo and dot painting. Keep update .