Welcome to Didgeman.com. Thank you for taking the time to ride along with me in the quest to learn from the ancestral knowledge held in the spirits of the didgeridoo. My name is Omid Aski Laridjani, and it has been 3 1/2 years since I have discovered this culture of thought, breath, meditation, spirits, and knowledge. At first, I never guessed that the didgeridoo would be the key to an ocean deep of ideas, and understandings. I would have never thought that it would take me to the far corner of the world where I would meet the people that have cherished the spirits of the didgeridoo in the highest regard. I didn't know that it could hold a system of creativity that enhances memory, strengthens the lungs, focuses the mind, and dances the spirits. But as time moved on, and my heart opened, the didgeridoo spirit which was my intuition took my hand and guided me step by step in the path to the truths behind the instrument and the culture that it up-holds.

In the pursuit of my passion, I made life changing choices to follow the Didgeman spirits in the learning. I made big sacrifices only excited to come closer to the light. And everything came along my path in the most perfect synchronicity. From the first moment when I received my very first didgeridoo made by Jeff who turns out to be a spiritual didgeridoo maker and player. Jeff has a sense of peace deep in his heart and carries it wherever he goes. I asked him that night in downtown Austin "What are you carrying?" He replied "Didgeridoos!" and began to explain to me what the instrument was. I needed something new to make life more fun, so I bought it from him. I realized over time, that when I would attempt to play it, and just drone, that people would gather like it was a source of heat or something.

Based on my choice of living with little money for the first time in my life, the didgeridoo became the spotlight of my world. It was something to have hope to base on. If i felt pressured from the lack of economic pressures, I would play it and feel better. It was like going running. At first I was inspired heavily by Steven Kent , David Hudson. They rocked my world for many months. I listen and did whatever I took to imitate them and their styles so that I could use their techniques in the future when I would be a better player. Then I discovered other didgeridoo players like Randy Graves, Lewis Burns, Rob Thomas. They each gave me many ideas of how the didgeridoo could be played. It was so nice to have listened to the teaching samples on Randy's website I learned a lot about double and triple tongue rhythms from his samples. After a year of listening and attempting to immitate all the didgeridoo music that I had gathered, a new inspiration came along, that blew me away in excitement. A CD called Resonance by Kenneth Sands and Jeremy Cloake was the most sensational didgeridoo style that I had heard in my lifetime. It left me pondering, "how do these guys make these sounds? Are they just DJs and spinning didge music or are they really playing this? WOW!!" The Resonance CD game me new dimensions to the didgeridoo. It helped me to find new ways of breathing, and talking through the didgeridoo. I would play it for everyone, showing them what the didge is all about. One thing I never understood was why people didn't rave about it as much as I did. I thought that it was so impressive, that most people avoided talking about it heheh. For me it was gold, and still is.

It was so nice to have listened to the teaching samples on Randy's website I learned a lot about double and triple tongue rhythms from his samples. After a year of listening and attempting to imitate all the didgeridoo music that I had gathered, a new inspiration came along, that blew me away in excitement. A CD called Resonance by Kenneth Sands and Jeremy Cloake was the most sensational didgeridoo style that I had heard in my lifetime. It left me pondering, "how do these guys make these sounds? Are they just DJs and spinning didge music or are they really playing this? WOW!!" The Resonance CD game me new dimensions to the didgeridoo. It helped me to find new ways of breathing, and talking through the didgeridoo. I would play it for everyone, showing them what the didge is all about. One thing I never understood was why people didn't rave about it as much as I did. I thought that it was so impressive, that most people avoided talking about it heheh. For me it was gold, and still is

Having listened to the Resonance CD and surfed the internet, I discovered that there exists traditional uses of the instruments. This was a surprize, since I thought that what David Hudson was playing was the old, traditional styles of the didgeridoo. Come to discover that it is was not. I then discovered a name that I had never heard of: Djalu Gurruwiwi . I discovered that this person had made some CD's of his style and rhythms. Something like 99 tracks of different ways of playing the didgeridoo. I downloaded some samples from some websites at the time, and listened. For months I thought "WHAT IN THE WORLD? WHAT? HOW? is.. this..?? Played? what do I do? how do I remember? Are they circular breathing at all? I can't hear it. Man.. I'm so confused but amazed at the same time. How are they playing this style making it sound rough and scratchy? I hear a ticking beat here and there.. what does it mean? Oh no! That darn Dup sounds that I can never make when playing a constant beat.. Do I have to learn this? Am I ever going to learn this? I hear the non-traditional players do it fast and at demand, but I can't.. at least not on the didgeridoos that I have. Okay! Back to non-traditional.. This style is too different for me to even fathom. "

So, there I went with my tail between my legs. My ass was kicked from trying to play the Resonance techniques and now there's a whole new way of playing the didgeridoo that I couldn't even think to figure it out. "And wait a minute, it's not even called a didgeridoo.. What's a 'Yidaki' and how do I pronounce it? Man! Perhaps I should not have dug this deep so soon." But I kept going back and listening over and over just to make sure that my ears were in check. Each time the sounds became warmer and more familiar. I then got a hold of the Djalu Teaches I CD, and listened to it over and over and over and over and over and over.... For months I listened and tried to imitate it.

It was time for the annual Didgeridoo Festival at Joshua Tree California.
I suddently got a project which funded me to attend the festival. And to top it all off, Djalu Gurruwiwi, his wife Dhopiya, and Sister Dhangal were all going to come as well. WOW!! OMG.. this was my chance to clear up alllllll the confusion that resided in my head. I wanted to know the answers to WHAT? N How? N WHO? ... I promised myself not to become his shadow and annoy him when he would arrive. When I arrived at the JTF, the first person that I met was Ben Hicks. Ben had over 70 didgeridoos in the back of his truck, and lots of stories about visiting Arnhemland with me. He shared some ideas regarding traditional yidaki techniques, and ways to articulate them. It was a perfect introduction to have met Ben first. It was like the stage was set for me. So, the next morning arrived, and I saw Djalu come to the camp with his family and Frank Thill. Here was my chance to ask a few questions. The interesting thing was that when I finally met him, I was surprised at how much time he intrinsically devoted to teach me his wisdom. During the JTF, Djalu with a big heart shared his insight with everyone and set the stage for the learning I needed in the following year. He gave me a Yidaki to adopt me as his son, and had Dhopiya paint it. I promised him that the next time I would see him that I would be playing his style and some rhythms.

After 5 months of everyday practice, I learned the basic tongue movements and breathing. It took more thought than physical practice. I just didn't know where the tongue went, and when to breathe. In fact, if you listen to traditional yidaki rhythms, it's very hard to know where the breath is. I had to sit and just talk it out. The basics. I even tried to write some things down, but it never stuck. So, I just tried to mimic the sounds. Wherever I went, I would be speaking the sounds in my head or silently waiting for dentist office, or walking in nature. I wouldn't get tired of it either. So, one afternoon, sitting down, I thought of one way of moving the tongue while playing the Yidaki to make the same sounds that I would hear. It worked partly at first. After weeks of placing efforts in fine tuning the sounds, got started feeling it. The breathing was way off at first. I would run out of air because I wasn't use to it. Only after continuous practice did I start to feel comfortable with the breathing. One obstacle for me was that I had never seen the face of an accomplished Yidaki player to see what he looked like when he was playing. Would the cheeks be puffed out? Would he turn blue from playing with much power and speed? What part of the mouthpiece was he using? Center, or side? So, I just continued my practices until I felt more and more comfortable. Meanwhile, I would also listen to the rhythms 3 times more than before. I slept to the rhythms playing many times. Funny that I would never get tired of it. I would also call Djalu and family and ask them questions when I really needed help with understanding things. They invited me to come and visit them for as long as I wanted, and so I began preparing. I created a small animation to show my path goals with you: http://www.didgeman.com/dreams

Now I've gone to visit Djalu and family in the Northern Territory of Australia and have a book of stories to share. I'm still working on my learning yidaki rhythm patterns and the ocean deep of knowledge that it holds. I have tons of stories and ideas that I will start to organize and present in multimedia fashion in the future. Meanwhile, take advantage of the present content that I have put together sharing my own personal discoveries of the didgeridoo/yidaki culture. Thanks for your interest in my path to learning, and I hope that you too are inspired to start your journey along with me.