Evening Performances
6:30 to 9:00 pm at IGNCA Amphitheatre
sunday 7th march at 6.30 pm
It is played with continuously
vibrating lips to produce the drone while using a special breathing
technique called
circular breathing. This
requires breathing in through the nose whilst simultaneously
expelling stored air out of the mouth using the tongue and cheeks.
By use of this technique, a skilled player can sustain a note for
almost half an hour. A Fellow of the British Society wrote that the
didgeridoo functions "...as an aural kaleidoscope of timbres" and
that "the extremely difficult virtuoso techniques developed by
expert performers find no parallel elsewhere”.
Traditionally, the
didgeridoo was primarily played as an accompaniment to ceremonial
dancing and singing and for surviving Aboriginal groups of northern
Australia, the didgeridoo is still an integral part of ceremonial
life, as it accompanies singers and dancers in surviving cultural
ceremonies. However today, the majority of didgeridoo playing is for
recreational purposes only.
William Barton is one of
Australia’s leading Didgeridoo players and composers and a powerful
advocate for the wider perceptionof his cultural traditions. He was
taught the instrument by his uncle, an elder of the Waanyi, Lardil
and Kalkadunga tribes of western Queensland. He played his first
classical concert at the age of 17 and has collaborated with
Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe in ‘Sculthorpe’s Requiem
performed by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in the UK. The
recording of Earth Cry and other works were rearranged to include
the didgeridoo and was nominated for the Best Classical Album in the
2004 ARIA Awards.
Further collaborations include
The Concerto
for Didgeridoo
with Sean Boyle, Ross Edwards and George Warren as well as with
Liza Lim’s work for orchestra didgeridoo and flute premiered at the
Sydney Opera House in 2006 and then in Munich (2007). William’s own
compositions include Songs of the Mother Country and Journey of the
Rivers performed at the Pompidou Centre, Paris. William has traveled
extensively in Europe and continues to appear at music festivals in
Australia and around the world.