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The Didjeridu: From Arnhem Land to Internet. Karl Neuenfeldt, editor. 1997. Sydney and London: John Libbey & Company Pty Ltd/Perfect Beat Publications. vii, 184 pp, b&w and color photos, interview transcription, musical examples, maps, bibliographies and discographies, index. Cloth, $45.00; paper, $29.95. Journal information E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.elm.mq.edu.au/pbeat/ pbeat.htm
Global markets, commodification, and an increasing interest in sounds from different traditions have produced commercial recordings and the kind of schizophonia described by Steven Feld (1996) as well as an international demand for certain musical instruments. Yet we have seen remarkably little reflection on the process and results of such contemporary instrument diffusion, even though it can provide "insight into the paradoxes and possibilities of musical production and use" (9).
The didjeridu, a wooden trumpet played with circular breathing that was originally developed by Yolngu (Aboriginal) populations in northeast Arnhem Land, Australia, is a dramatic example of the appropriation of a musical instrument by performers and communities of a diverse nature. This handsome, well produced, tightly integrated collection of essays prepared for a broad audience attempts to deal with some of the issues raised by the immense popularity of the sounds produced by the instrument, the ideals believed to be expressed by that sound, and the expanded uses to which the instrument has been put. The compilation seeks to "encourage readers to understand the didjeridu on several interconnected levels: as a distinctive instrument, icon, and sound; as a nexus of social relationships; as a way of engaging wider theoretical issues...