The Power of Music

Close your mouth and exhale into a piece of termite-eaten tree. That raspberry you just made is an aboriginal path to the spirit world.

The deep sound of the Australian instrument called the didgeridoo is meant to evoke “dream-time”--the “spirit world behind ordinary reality,” said Fred Tietjen, a didgeridoo player who has taught at the Folk Music Center in Claremont.

Made from pieces of eucalyptus trees that have been hollowed out by termites, the instrument is considered part of the trumpet family, with a sound similar to a trombone.

To introduce the didgeridoo to a wider audience, Tietjen has arranged for Alastair Black, an Australian recording artist and didgeridoo player, to perform at the center on Sunday. Black learned the aboriginal ways of the didgeridoo and storytelling from a tribal elder, Bill Neidjie.

Neidjie entrusted Black with introducing the didgeridoo and stories of aboriginal tribes to other cultures. Black said the elder told him that “didgeridoo magic got power of its own. When it speaks to you, gotta listen.”

It’s easy to learn the basics of playing the instrument, Black and Tietjen said, which accounts for its increased popularity.

“I get a lot of people who say they hear it on the radio. . . . It draws them, they’re fascinated,” said Black, who has been playing the instrument 10 years and teaching it for five.

The popularity of world music and environmentalism has also boosted interest in the didgeridoo, Black said.

Alastair Black will present the sounds of the didgeridoo and stories of the Australian Aboriginal peoples Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Folk Music Center at 220 Yale Ave., Claremont. Tickets are $15 at the door. Information: (909) 624-2928.