{"id":581,"date":"2007-11-23T08:19:11","date_gmt":"2007-11-22T21:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fatplanet.com.au\/blog\/2007\/11\/19\/the-didgeribone-charlie-mcmahon-tjupurru-australia\/"},"modified":"2021-01-31T05:15:02","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T05:15:02","slug":"the-didgeribone-charlie-mcmahon-tjupurru-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stuartbuchanan.com\/archives\/2007\/11\/23\/the-didgeribone-charlie-mcmahon-tjupurru-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlie McMahon & Tjupurru (Australia) – On The 'Didjeribone'"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s hard to cite many examples where the didjeridu has crossed both Australian and ‘traditionalist’ borders and boomed out into the diaspora of contemporary music. Back in 1992, Richard James produced a memorable riff on the didj’s capabilities with the Aphex Twin<\/strong> classic ‘Digeridoo’, and of late, M.I.A.<\/strong>‘s resurrection of the Morganics<\/a><\/strong>-produced Wilcannia Mob<\/strong> track, ‘Downriver’, has been filtering through the woofers across the globe.
\nHere in Aus, the didjeridu has more of a widespread, if somewhere eclectic, life, but its story gained a whole new chapter when Sydney musician Charlie McMahon<\/strong> picked up the oversized baton, and took everything to the next level. Over 25 years ago, Charlie invented an entirely new derivation of the instrument, and christened it the didjeribone<\/a>. Made entirely of plastic, McMahon crafted the instrument to gain more control of the potential range of tones he could extract from what is, essentially, little more than a hollow tube. Taking inspiration from the trombone, the didjeribone uses two separate lengths of tubing that slide between one another, creating an entirely unique sound.
\nAbove, Charlie shows exactly how the didjeribone works, in tandem with the ‘Face Bass’ and ‘Seismic Sensor’.
\nMcMahon’s tale is a long and richly psychedelic experience (the enormous success of the Gondwanaland project, working with Midnight Oil and Timothy Leary, playing on the Mad Max soundtrack, winning an ARIA Award, playing a $3m Sydney Harbour live show), and he’s still just as active today as he ever has been. Charlie will be playing at the inaugural Sydney “Uber System<\/a>” club night on December 15th, with myself, Gemma, Atone, Ollo, Mashy P, SPS Crew and bP amongst many others (more info soon – save the date).
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\nA descendant of the Djabera Djabera tribe of the West Australia Kimberleys, Tjupurru<\/strong> (pictured above) is taking McMahon’s vision further still – refracting the concept back within the Indigenous Australian culture, and blending the didgeribone with live samples and loops into what he describes as “21st century Didjetronica”. His debut EP, “Stomin’ Ground” has been produced by Sydney knobs-man Tony Buchan<\/a>, aka Buchman<\/strong>, and features five tracks of bass-heavy, didji-dub and distorted vocals. He’ll be performing at this year’s Woodford Folk Festival, and precedes those dates with a few appearances on the Australian East Coast throughout December.<\/p>\n