'Didge ya 'ear that?!'

MEDIA RELEASE – January 31, 2008

'Didge ya 'ear that?!'

Visiting Australian aboriginal performer Adam Hill will host a unique interactive workshop at the Festival of the Elements in Porirua next week for children.

Adam is an accomplished performer of Yidaki (Didgeridoo), with training from cultural tutors and custodians of the instrument, the Yolngu of North East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

The workshop, titled 'Didge ya 'ear that?!' will combine music and visual art, with participants listening to distinct rhythmic patterns of the Yidaki* (Didgeridoo) and song, translating these sounds onto paper.

Festival Chairman Bob Cater said participants would be able to map out a musical diagram, and a wonderful piece of art.

“The beauty of this practice is that it is open to peoples of varying abilities, and especially exciting for the visually impaired,” he said.

“This demonstration is highly educational in its cultural appropriation and technical application,” Mr Cater said.

Yidaki is the cultural language name for Didgeridoo from the Yolngu peoples.

The playing style involves a complex language pattern to pronounce specific rhythms.

The workshop will be open to adults, and to children from year four upwards.

It will be in one of the classrooms in the Mana College Marae at 4.15 – 5.00pm.

Adam’s appearance will mark the first Aboriginal performance at the Festival of the Elements, and has been made possible through the Sister City relationship between Porirua and Blacktown in New South Wales.

The full programme for the Festival, on Waitangi Day, is featured on the Festival website at
www.elementsfestival.org.nz

Mr Cater said the new site for the Festival at Elsdon Park and Mana College allowed plenty of room for people to bring sun umbrellas, chairs and other picnic grear.

ENDS

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