Shozo: 1989

Shozo: Yes. since 1990, 

Shozo: Not having any finger holes and playing with just one note is so unique to me. The structure of didgeridoo itself is very simple. It's just a hollowed out tube, but the structure of the sound is quite complicated. Basically it has 3 different parts which are bass, harmonics, and midrange. The thing is that these 3 need to be in "the right proportion" to each other to get "the specific texture" in the sound. Having the specific texture in the sound gives such a

In Darwin 1990. First time he got traditional "old yidaki"(made of iron- wood) from N.E.Arnhem Land. This yidaki was made in 1910's.

great pleasure to the player regardlessly to the type of songs or rythum. Learning to get the best sound quality for didgeridoo means simply learning how to get "the richest texture" in a sound. If you start getting this kind of texture in a sound, you will create an extra dimension when you play, which goes beyond your imagination. Then you become obsessed by playing even just basic drone. This is the starting point which takes you to the deep puzzle once you get passionated to gain the higher standard of playing. Then almost everybody gets lost in the middle of the endless maze through looking for the goal to reach. The more you learn the more you realise that you know nothing. 

Shozo: Basically my interpretation about how this instrument should be played is very different from that of most players I have met. My style has a strong influence from the traditional style because of the amount of time that I have been learning the traditional style. It doesn't mean I am a traditional player, actually I'm not. The reason I have been learning the traditional style is to master the basics to produce even just one sound but with all details in. 

Did you learn from an Aboriginal traditional player?

 

Shozo: I did eventually, but not when I started playing. First few years, I was playing like everybody else , in 1990 I started meeting good didgeridoo players from Australia such as David Hudson, Phillip Peris, Phil Conyngham, Alan Dargin.  I was still a biginner and I didn't have any knowledge about traditional way to play when I met them in London 1990. Their playing sounded so different to any non-traditinal players I've met before.  It wasn't really traditional style how they play, but it wasn't the common western style either. Those players had their own unique style of playing which are so original and their playing can give "something" what the audience like to listen. What those players impressed me was their clear composition of the song with rythum "as music" when they play a didgeridoo. In general you often hear the same simple phrase keep on going endlessly without building up anything during the song when most of western style players play. But these players got some "interesting contents" in their playing.   I had a lot of opportunities to spend time with Phil Peris in particular, when he was living in London (1990-1992). I was always impressed when he played for me. He looked so relaxed and effortless when he was playing. I also usted to listen to David Hudson's first album "Proud to be Aborigine".(That's still his best album ever, in my opinion.) Anyway, those four players stayed in my mind for a while as my "textbook" when I practised, until my interest turned to "Traditional style". I'm sure that I learned "something" from all of them even if it's so different to what I've learnt since I started with traditional style.

My first traditional yidaki player who I ever met before was Djamana from Elcho Island (off N.E.Arnhem Land), when I was in Darwin in 1990. He was my first "true" inspiration for playing yidaki.

	Djamana(from Elcho Island) 1990: Djamana is his first traditional player Shozo ever met before, met in Darwin 1990. Shozo spent a month with him. Unforgetable experience with just hearing the sound Djamana made. He became the 1st "true insperation" with yidaki playing for Shozo since he started playing.

He was living in the same hotel to where I was staying in Darwin. He is definitely still one of my favourite yidaki players from amongst all the great traditional players I have met so far. I was deeply touched when I heard his playing in right front of me for the first time. It sounded so polyphonic, which was something I'd never experienced with anybody playing didgeridoo before. It confused my image of the didgeridoo-sound immediately. To be honest, the sound he created made me think that I knew nothing... it was a kind of magic to me. It was impossible not to feel that my battery was getting recharged very powerfully just by listening to his playing. When I heard his playing, I couldn't put it in the category of just music. His sound took me much beyond music. His sound had some extra layers with sharp edges, even if he played just one basic short drone. I had no idea how anybody could make sounds like that using the same instrument. Since then, that sound of his has never left my mind. Even now I always feel it subconsciously when I think of yidaki. Later on I had the same experience when I spent time with Yothu Yindi's yidaki players in London (1993-1997).

	Milkayngu Mununggurr (the original yidaki player of Yothu Yindi): Almost finished pealing bark off new yidaki before he gave tuition to Shozo in Yirrkala/N.E.Arnhem Land 2000.

When I met Yothu Yindi for the first time in London in 1993, my interest in traditional style was increasing and I was clearly able to see the difference between their sound and non-traditional styles. 

The most important person who made my interest into traditional material was Wallis Buchanan. I met Wallis in 1990 in Covent Garden before he joined "Jamiroquai". We started practicing together since then. 1993, incredible things happened to my didgeridoo history. I got a great opportunity to meet Yothu Yindi at their soundcheck in London, when Wallis was introduced by Sony to Yothu Yindi. Wallis was already into traditional material before I became interested. If he did not tell me how great their sound was in traditional playing I would still be stuck in the western style without even knowing the difference. Actually he put my interest in the right track and we went back to see Yothu Yindi again and again, everytime when they came back to London for their gigs.
One night, we were sitting in the hotel room with Alan James(Yothu Yindi's manager) and two yidaki players from the band near Hyde Park after their gig. Two great Yidaki players, Makuma Yunupingu,Yomunu Yunupingu started playing some songs from their traditional number for us. It was so great to sit in right front of them and listen to the pure accoustic sound without through mic from their playing. They kept playing for us one after another. I always felt so honored and privileged to be with them. It was a rare opportunity - just like meeting Miles Davis to a student beginning to learn how to play the trumpet. My learning and practicing started to focus in the right direction since and started to understand slowly how this instrument should be played. But at the same time I realized to go back to the beginning to learn the foundation from scratch. It means I had to give up all my knowledge and experience I had already because now I can say, I was playing completely wrong.

	with Makuma Yunuping (ex yidaki player from Yothu Yindi): "In the shade" on a local beach, talking about "yidaki playing" N.E.Arnhem Land/2000. They've met first time in London 1993.

What's the biggest influence in your playing?

Shozo: Traditional style from North Eastern and Western Arnhem Land.

What's the difference between "traditional" and "western style" didgeridoo playing?

Shozo: This issue has been talked about quite often since the small number of non-traditional players became interested and curious in "traditional-style" playing. It's been talked about as the main difference between this two completely different way of playing the same instrument is about "contents and structures" in their playing. But this doesn't reach the essential difference between traditional and western style playing. The essential difference between traditional and non-traditional players is obviously "the level" of technical skill and knowledge to play the instrument. First of all, misunderstanding "the mechanism" in a mouth to vibrate lips has built up massive wall for western style players to get them-self stuck in a limited way to produce richer quality sound. The reason of limited musical expression and stability, suffering(as their body language shows,) during their playing for western style players is cuased by simply their misunderstanding of the mechanism of muscle movement with "unnecessarily overpowered breath". Western style means basically based on "self-taught" style. In fact there is a big gap between these two different levels which is unfortunately as big as between beginners and professionals. You might think that I'm exaggerating, but you would believe me if you have experienced listening to traditional player's playing without useing microphone in front of you.

This big gap between non-traditional and traditional style sound is very natural to have happened because traditional style got at least 2,000 years history behind(by archaeological research in Northern Territory). This crazy length of time is more than enough for any body to discover the best way to play the best sound. But the history of western style is very young, it's just started comparing to traditional style, and it's still in the middle of experimenting and challenging many different way to find out "how to play ? "

Traditional style obviously had been through this piriod in the early time(long long time ago...) before the whole package of their playing style has been established on perfectly completed investigation in order to achive the highest standard of mechanism to play yidaki(didgeridoo) as scientific and final conclusion of physics for "muscle movement and its reaction with air(in a mouth)".

Secondly there's no similarity in the concept of playing between traditional and western style, like how to use tongue, controlling breath level etc... Making just noise or "specific texture" in a sound is completely two different things. When didgeridoo became fashionable in UK in the late '80s, technical skills was never introduced as people who introduced this instrument in the early time to the western market were non-traditional players. The position of didgeridoo became very strange way by a lot of "New age musicians" and "Alternative-lifestylers". Then suvenir merchants started selling "didgeridoo" at festivals and week-end markets.(Sadly 99% of those Australian didgeridoo were made by non-Aboriginal people,)

It's commonly found in most of "Didgeridoo-workshop" or private lesson that teaching "circular-breathing" seemed to be the most and only important thing about playing didgeridoo for those "teachers" and their students since the western didgeridoo scene began. The quality of "the texure and tonality" in a basic sound has been ignored right from the begining until Yothu Yindi's influence began growing amoungst non-traditional players slowly.

Western style players tend to overpower when they play didgeridoo, using excessive physical power to play any musical instrument is very detrimental to your playing, it just disfunctional for controling system to play the instrument in musical way. Firstly if you blow too hard to any wind-instrument, it breaks tonality easily and increases mess in the sound at the same time. Therefore the sound becomes dark and heavy or soft and weak. Strange thing is, as far as I remember, when I listen to most of western playing, I feel that I am listening to someone playing the didgeridoo, but when I listen to a traditional players, I rather feel I am listening to the music.

Shozo: All I recommend are from traditional styles because I believe that's the only style which you can learn the most important knowledge and technical informations to produce the best sound quality to play the instrument.

All albums of Yothu Yindi (especially the traditional tracks (CD)).

"Hard Tongue Didgeridoo"/Milkay Mununggur(2005)
*Milkayngu Mununggur's first solo recording,

"Waluka"/Gurritjiri Gurruwiwi, Djalu Gurruwiwi,(Yothu Yindi Foundation 2001)

"Nundhirribala"/Mungayana Nundhirribala(Yothu Yindi Foundation 2001)

"Mamba"/Ralkurru Marika(Yothu Yindi Foundation 2001)

"Djalu"-Djalu teaches and plays yidaki(Yothu Yindi Foundation 2001) yidaki played by Djalu Gurruwiwi, Larrtjannga Gurruwiwi,  Barrnyulnyul  Wunungmurra,

"Songs from Northern Territory" Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4. Field recording and notes by Alice M Moyle(1962-1963).

 "Didjeridu Master" /David Blanasi(Big Bang Record 1998)

"Didjeridoo"-The Australian Aboriginal music /PlayaSound (France 1996)

"Arnhem Land"-Authentic Australian Aboriginal Songs and Dances Vol 1.2.3.(LP)/The A.P.Elkin Collection(France 1957)

Do you use didgeridoo for other purposes like healing sessions?

Shozo: No, Never.