I heard the live sounds of the digeridu for the first time in Broome, Western Australia, while awaiting the magical moonrise of Staircase to the Moon, – a natural phenomenon caused by a full moon rising over the exposed mudflats of nearby Roebuck Bay. In front of me the Indian Ocean. Soft breezes cooled the air. Mysterious sounds arose, produced by this ancient wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australian people that is still widespread in use today, both here and around the world. Some say that if the earth had a voice, it would be the sound of the digeridu and I couldn’t agree more.
Perhaps 35 thousand years before the sheep’s horn trumpet and 40 thousand years before the saxophone – a resident of the continent we now call Australia picked up a tree branch that had been eaten hollow by termites, put it to his mouth to it and made a noise. That was the invention of the digeridu – one of the simplest, but one of the most powerful musical instruments in existence. (Stephen Hill – Hearts of Space “Terra Australia”)