Let me share some stories & experiences here about the Yidaki.
In the mid-80s I heard some traditional Australian
Aboriginal music on Dutch radio.
It was a Northern Arnhemland song, very percussive and fast.
The sound of the yidaki sounded just like what I was trying
to find by mixing multiple sound-layers with bass-guitar,
analog synthesizer, voice, African drums etcetera.
After that it took me almost two years to find out anything about
this mysterious instrument. During a stay in London I saw a very
cracked Yidaki in the Western Australian gift shop, bought
myself a pair of Bilma (clapsticks), and took the knowledge of
the instrument (basically a hollow tube) home.
As I had just started ArtSchool, the first material available to me
was large cardboard tubes from rolls of paper, and I started
experimenting, making sounds with them. Soon a repertoire of rythmic
sounds developed, but I had no clue as how to make the sound continue.
I'd heard about circular breathing, but it seemed like a near
impossible feat.

One day in '87, we had a guest teacher, Jo Truman, from Australia,
who stepped into the classroom with something long, wrapped in a
beautiful cloth. She had lived for some time with a desert tribe.
She showed slides, played didj (it had cured her epilepsy) and
told about Aborigene culture. I learned about the beeswax mouthpiece.
After I had seen the circular breathing being done, I started
concentrating on it, noticing that i could keep the tone going
while starting to breath in, and gradually shortening the gap,
untill after about two weeks I would be able to keep the drone
going for a couple of breaths. My instrument was a cardboard tube,
about 3.5cm diam. x 1.6m length.

In the woodworkshop of the school I found some big bamboos and
after hitting the notches out with a broomstick and fitting them
with beeswax for the mouthpiece, and painting them with acrylic
(part mixed with sand and/or clay to get a rough finish) I had
some nice 'beginners-didges'.

Jo Truman also hinted me that there was a plant growing here in
Holland ('Bereklauw' or 'Bear's Claw') with a hollow stem, suitable
for making didges. But as it was winter I had to wait for the autumn.
the Latin name of this plant is Heracleum Mantegazzianum, the giant
variety of Heracleum spp., most closely related to Angelroot (Angelica).
Also related to parsley, carrot and parsnip. (Giant Hogweed)                    
In herbal medicine the dried, powdered root is known as anti-epileptic.
The plant has got a 2 year life-cycle, the first year it grows
only leaves, and it looks like giant rhubarb. The second year
the plant grows a hollow stem that can get up to more than 3 meters
in length. Stem and leaves are covered with hairs, and emits a fluid
that can make the (human) skin about 20 times extra sensitive to
light, so that sunlight can cause severe burns and blisters if you
have touched the living plant. So be very careful.

In the summer it gets crowned with huge screens of small white flowers.
In my experience it's best to wait until late summer/autumn, when
the plant has set it's seeds and is already starting to dry out.
I pick a cloudy day, or even wait for a little rain to fall, before
harvesting a 'bear's claw'. I cut of the top that holds the seeds
and the leaves, and by then it's easy to wriggle the stem 'till it
snaps off the root. I leave it to dry for several weeks, cut it to
a fitting length, apply beeswax to the mouthpiece and paint it with
acryllic. Some people have also used schellack for both the inside
and outside of 'bear's claw'-yidakis with much success.

Nowadays I mainly make rain-sticks out of 'bear's claw'-stems, because
by now I have three Australian 'termite-made' Yidakis and some more
wooden 'Dutcheridoos' made by a friend and by myself, and don't play
the bear's-claws ones as often anymore.

About early '89 Lights in a Fat City had their 1st gig
in Amsterdam (I video-taped it) and after the show backstage
it escalated into a jamsession for hours.
Seeing Stephen Kent play and jamming with him (he allowed me
to have a go on all his didges) was again a big boost for my
motivation in playing. 

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