DIDJERIDU
“…the musical pipe played by the Aborigines…”
From J .Mallon, Ireland: What’s the right spelling for the musical pipe played by the Aborigines in Australia? I’ve seen it spelt in different ways in books and magazines.
REPLY: Take your choice of DIDGERIDOO – DIDJERIDOO – DIDGEREEDOO – DIJERIDOO – DIDJERIDOO – DIDJERIDU. I prefer the latter spelling personally. When I was knocking around the tribal country up in Arnhem Land in the early 1970s, I only ever heard the Aborigines refer to their musical instrument as a YIRRAKI, with the rolled R effect. In those days before their culture was being so blatantly exploited, usually only one person in the tribal group was regarded as the official musician, and females never touched it. A didjeridu was fashioned for a specific ceremony, painted with only four colours – red, white, yellow, black – and immediately after the cessation of the men’s business, the “yirraki” was thrown on to the campfire and destroyed.
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