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UDL history - 2

After the second instrument being ready it was clear that in the near future we would get the didgeridoo of the professional level.

Datura (Alex) as a yidaki-master was as a sort of a professional taster at that stage.

The second didg has all the rights to be called the real Russian version of the didgeridoo so it has the Russian epic appearance. Now it is in the collection Grannies of the Russian didgeridoo which belongs to Galina Mishina (Saint-Petersburg).The didg has quite strong authentic sound, light trumpet producing the violent sound like the Alpine horn. The termite grooves inside the acoustic channel are not as delicate and straight-line as they were in the first model and afterwards they have not been modified. But, nevertheless, the ideal was not reached yet at that time and later the acoustic scheme was modified again.

The third didg was nearly ideal. It had authentic sound, good resonator, stable tone, light first and second trumpets (the first trumpet was octave).

This instrument can be compared to Australian eucalyptus (concert) didgeridoo at the price of $1000-1500

But it has some weaknesses: not very hard wood (birch) and the shape of a cone (authentic Australian didgeridoo has the variety of shapes because it is created by nature itself).

Nobody was going to stop and the work continued. Craftsmaster Anatoly kept on improving his skills.

What kind of cultural and educational work was being done at that moment?

During summer-autumn 2005 Datura introduced his musical trance-tribal project in some night clubs in Yekaterinburg: PlayNet, Azart, Atmosphere, Tabu and Irish pub "Gordons".

There were some performances to celebrate different city occasions and at corporative parties.

The aim of these performances was to give the so-called musical and cultural didgeridoo injection.

As a lot of people had never seen and heard the didgeridoo, these performances often provoked the state of mental paralysis among audience.

Direct experience of perceiving natural deep magnetic sound and immersing into exquisite and not ordinary rhythm made people get interested in the didgeridoo.

Despite the fact that the musical format was very odd for the Russian audience the didgeridoo awoke great interest of a lot of people..

People often stopped dancing in night clubs when they heard the didgeridoo. They looked at what was happening and listened to this sound.

Frankly speaking, it was very pleasant to see people be surprised in our time when there was plenty of information and few occasions to raise surprise. Those who had already met the didgeridoo in their lives were surprised as well. They were surprised at rhythmic and timbre diversity which Datura was literally creating from nothing.

The forth instrument was made by Anatoly Kutsenko at the beginning of October. Its tone coincided with the tone of the second didg. It gave a chance to Urals audience to listen to a duet of didgeridoos. I was lucky to play a duet with Alex in public. Though it made me improve my techniques of playing it was not a burden on me it was real pleasure. But performing in public showed that I should learn and learn to master the instrument.

I would like to add that while Alex being in Russia I had time to ascertain a lot of crucial moments with regards to performing technique. I had to reconsider the approach to breathing and creating sound and also rectify errors. Generally speaking, none of theories and manuals can substitute personal contact with a real tutor.

October came. The fifth Urals didgeridoo was finished by Anatoly under the sign of Libra. It was nearly identical to didg N3. The only two differences were that its tone was a little lower (F) and resonance frequency coincided with the main tone of the instrument. It is necessary to say that it is hardly possible to plan the latter peculiarity. It is an extraordinary case. This instrument meets all the requirements of the professional level and was highly appreciated by the European performers. Today didg N5 is one of the instruments in Alexs arsenal.

The further aim of the laboratory was to find the optimum shape of acoustic channel for low key didgeridoos and to keep natural design of instruments. You can see all the patterns in The Gallery of the instruments (photos and audio). With rare exception all these didgeridoos can be considered to be of the professional (concert) level.