Music and Gender

 

Growing up and still today, one of my dreams is to travel to a Australia because I find the cultures and the land so interesting. My Aunt lived in Australia for a few years and always tells me stories of how rich the culture is! So I started researching the topic Music and Gender and found a cool instrument from the Aboriginal tribes of Arnhem Land in Northern Australia; The Didgeridoo! 

Here is a map of Arnhem Land: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnhem_Land

The Aboriginal people are Australia's first people and have lived in Australia for over 50,000 years. The Didgeridoo is a wind instrument that is played with vibrating strings. The structure of the instrument is in the form of a straight wooden trumpet and is made from hollow tree branches. The sounds the Didgeridoo produce is a drone sound with percussive rhythms! Within the Aboriginal tribes, the Didgeridoo has huge significance as the instrument is used to play in ceremonies, dances, and just for fun! The Aboriginal people find playing the Didgeridoo as a way to reconcile with past traditions and cultures, and connecting back to the land.

Didgeridoo

As for music and gender, I found some varying views on Women playing the Didgeridoo! As I was researching I found there is some misunderstanding of the role of the Didgeridoo in traditional Aboriginal culture.... That women are not allowed to play or even touch a Didgeridoo. Traditionally, women do not play the didgeridoo in public ceremonies and only men were allowed to play. Women were allowed to accompany the sounds with song and dance. Overtime through misconceptions and misunderstandings. there became a known "curse". If a women were to play or even touch the Didgeridoo, it is looked down as a cultural indiscretion and the woman could become infertile. Good news is that people have been to the Arnhem Land and have asked the question whether women can play the didgeridoo and there is no law forbidding women to play the instrument! On the discussion page about women and the didgeridoo, the last sentence I believe is very important to note: Women and the Didgeridoo

" The crafting, painting, and distribution of didgeridoos is a gift from the oldest living culture on the planet for everyone to enjoy, regardless of gender."  

There has been talk in 2020 about an international women's didgeridoo festival in Amsterdam and Los Angeles. The festival would have featured performers from all over playing the didgeridoo. Some Aboriginal people saw this festival to be disrespectful to their culture as non-Aboriginal women were playing the instrument and adding electronic music to the background. There was debate about women playing the didgeridoo and cultural appropriation, and the main idea was it is about awareness and respect.. if you don't know... ask! The festival mangers wanted to donate proceeds from the festival to Indigenous organizations to bring awareness to cultures. The festival was suppose to go on in 2020 but Covid happen and I haven't found anything about if the festival went on. If you would like to read more: International women's didgeridoo festival raises questions back in Australia

There are Didgeridoo festivals back in Melbourne Australia that seem like a great time!   

Lastly, here is Ticki Stamasuri, who is known as "the most beautiful Didgeridoo player in the world". This video is pretty cool as it shows, today, a women playing the Didgeridoo and the desert land of Australia behind her in the video. 

Overall, I learned about a cool instrument and I enjoyed learning more about Aboriginal culture and traditions!