Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Vacancies...


Vacancies..., originally uploaded by Sachira.
On one fine autumn day, I saw these three benches along the riverside walkway calling for passersby to sit and rest on them. Finally, I was able to listen to their silent call and quench their thirst for company for a brief time.The Picture was taken at the walkway along the Brisbane river in Teneriffe, Queensland, Australia.

I never had any idea about where Teneriffe is or what is there to see until a new bus service, called "City Glider", started operating from where I live, West End, to Teneriffe Jetty. A ride on the bus during the first couple of weeks was free and I decided check out what Teneriffe was like.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

An evening on the rooftop


Every photo has a story behind it. This particular story, I enjoy recalling over and over, because it brings back a feeling I adore so much.

The roof of our house, back in Colombo, was a flat concrete surface. There was a stair case to access it as well, making it easier for anyone to climb up there. Back in those days, I had a habit of going up there in evenings and watching the sunset. Our house was two storied and located on bit of a higher ground. Since it was a residential area, there were not many taller structures around it either. That made it an ideal location to observe the heavens, day or night.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Didgeridoo player in Fremantle

Click PLAY to see the video


This guy is the best casual Didgeridoo player I came across while my stay in Western Australia. I met him in Fremantle while admiring these wonderful instruments at the store he was working in. Didgeridoo has always been an instrument of passion for me. Even before I came to Australia, I loved listening to its music.

My sister knew about this and one time she tried to buy one for me from Perth and bring it to Sri Lanka when she was visiting us. However, it did not really work out because of the bulkiness and the fragility of the item. Instead she bought me a CD of didgeridoo music by an artist named David Hudson, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

So, ever since I landed in Australia and got a chance to wonder around the shops, especially the aboriginal art and souvenir stores, I enjoyed admiring didgeridoos. Not just through my eyes, but also through my ears. Most of these instruments are painted with aboriginal arts making them look even more fascinating. Although, some original didgeridoos were supposed to be just a plain hollow wood. Some warm-hearted guys, like the one in the video, went to the extent of putting on a short performance for me, even when they knew that I was not going buy one.

As far as what I came across, one can buy a decent didgeridoo starting from around AU$75. Most of them are intended for tourists and casual players. Probably the professionals would own ones that are of much higher value.

Didgeridoo is an Australian aboriginal instrument. It is said to have originated in northern part of the continent. Traditionally the instrument was made out of Eucalyptus wood and can measure 1 to 3 meters in length[1]. The end where the mouthpiece is, usually have a smaller diameter compared to the opposite end to create resonance of the sound.

When playing a didgeridoo, a technique called circular breathing is necessary, which for my experience is not that easy to pick up. The aboriginal people considers the instrument to be sacred and do not like women playing it. In addition to that, I have heard that the intense breathing method creates a lot of stress on stomach mussels, and could affect negatively on women's womb.

Well, I guess that is it for now. I can guarantee you that there will be another article on didgeridoo soon on this blog.

Reference:
[1]. Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia. Didgeridoo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didgeridoo. Accessed on June 6, 2010.

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