Indigenous artists remixing the digeridoo

Adrian Ross and artist Arthur Conlan

Adrian Ross  and artist Arthur Conlan did a series of school workshops before appearing at the Gin Gin Didgeridoo Festival as part of NAIDOC Week celebrations on our region. (ABC: Matt Gees)

Adrian Ross and Arthur Conlan recently visited the Wide Bay for the Gin Gin Didgeridoo festival, part of our region’s NAIDOC week celebrations. They also did a series of school workshops in the week leading up to the festival.

Arthur is an Aboriginal artist, originally from Cherbourg. He spent three years as a teacher aide in a preschool before joining the army for ten years. After this he got back into Aboriginal art, and has been doing that for about 17 years.

Adrian is a world renowned didgeridoo player, who started playing after realising that his trumpet playing wasn’t getting much attention.

“It all started around the time of Expo’ 88,” Adrian remembered, “When I heard a few didgeridoo players, and thought ‘Oh, I better take this seriously’. So I introduced the instrument to the band I was in. No-one would stop at my singing and no-one would stop at my trumpet playing, but no sooner did I pick up the didgeridoo, people stopped. You didn’t have to be clever or smart to realise when people stopped that this was something that needed to be worked on a little more.”

One thing that makes Adrian stand out amongst his musical peers is a talent of combining the traditional sounds with contemporary styles and music.

“You get the didgeridoo in the right key – not many people realise that they come in different keys – and you work with a good percussion band and a good rhythm section, then you have a great combination to create a good sound. What really has stretched me as an artist is having people say ‘give this a try’. Working with vocals, with falsetto, with rhythm, with the overtones of the didgeridoo has really put us out there.”

Adrian has travelled extensively across Australia and around the world including being part of the Christmas 2005 ‘Tour de Force’ concert tour that travelled to Baghdad to entertain troops serving with Operation Catalyst. As he travels, he picks up ideas form all around him and incorporates them into his music.

Both of these talented men enjoy the experience of working in schools, and love the way children respond to art and music.