Didgeridoo, English-Style

Didgeridoo music is nothing new in Australia. Kakadu rock art suggests that Indigenous people have been blowing into what musicologists classify as an “aerophone” for at least 1500 years.

Europe’s didgeridoo tradition, however, doesn’t stretch back quite so far. The term itself might be an Irish portmanteau word – duth (“native”) plus dúidire (“trumpeter”) – and some say that its modern spelling was decided at a Luxembourg jazz club, but that’s essentially where things end.

Until Kev Howard came along, that is. A native of Saltburn (a seaside town in the north-east of England, once famous for its smugglers), Howard has been touring Blighty, didgeridoo in hand, for a number of years, and is now about to embark on a three month tour of Australia.

Publicised as “Bringing Coals to Newcastle”, Howard’s tour will indeed begin in Newcastle. October will see him perform in The Shining Isle, at that city’s Civic Playhouse.

An energetic rock opera created by Newcastle’s Gareth Hudson and Nick Higginbotham, The Shining Isle is “an action, adventure and love story about the battle between the forces of creation and destruction.” Its settings include a mythical Pacific Island and Navajo Country in the USA, as well as Newcastle itself.

Details of Howard’s subsequent national tour are still to be announced.

Shining Isle writer Hudson first Howard play in England, in what he describes as “an amazing moment”.

“I'd never heard anybody play didjeridu like that, even in Australia."

Howard is equally upbeat. “As a Didjeridu player, I’ve performed at venues and festivals, nationally and internationally but this will be the first time that I’ve actually visited the home of the didgeridoo – Australia – and I’m really excited about the opportunity.”