RICHARD LEVINE-Maryland, USA
Introduction- By Tynon-  Received an email from Rich, that began a hunt that we went on together,  searching out a couple of top didgs. Rich is a passionate didg fella who has  gone his own path in  an area where he's largely  out on his own as  a didg player. Confirmed well  by the photo below, Rich is very interested in  indigenous culture and  didg has certainly become a good friend. WE have had  countless emails to and fro and I have found Rich an inspired didg fella.

Rich's Story

I first learned of a Didjeridoo while in the Navy in the 60"s.we went on a deployment to Australia [Sydney]. While on shore leave I heard a tape or record of someone playing a Didj and was hooked, I tried to find one when I was there and to find out if it was possible to learn how to play it. I didn’t have any luck, only had a day or two. The sound I heard never left my head. When I got back to the States I asked around and no one knew what I was talking about, so I sort of gave up.  

About three years ago I was at a Holistic conference and show, I went there to learn about healing, and just look at some of the new things I had been reading about, while in the main building I again heard that same sound coming from a Didj. I went over to investigate a found a man and his friend playing, he was also selling them, and it sure did look like it was something easy to do, even for a drummer.






I sat there for hours listening and talking to the two people there. I was latter walking around and wound up there again, thinking I might like to buy one. I decided I really didn’t have the money and gave up on the idea. About the same time my friend who had never heard one decided to buy one. We were walking out and all of a sudden it hit me I had to have one also, so I went back in and bought one, of course I bought a longer one than she did.

 These were man made Didjs and had a nice sound to them. We decided to head back to the car parked in an underground parking lot. While walking through the garage we decided it would really be cool to play them in there with all that echo . It did not at all sound like what we had heard at the show, as a matter of fact it sounded like a couple of cows with bad gas. After we got them home I would try and try and finally I had made a sound that I thought I heard. It  was exciting  so I immediately started calling everyone to let them know they now had a genuine didj  player.

 

Soon after I thought I had it mastered, I tried to circlebreath, that's when I found out I had a long way to go. I went on the web looking for help and found a didj maker with the best looking artwork I had ever seen[Sara-Moodrop], I got in contact with her and ordered a small but beautiful PVC didj. I worked with this one and finally figured out how to circle breath.

This is when the trouble started I wanted every didj I saw. I bought a couple off the web that were genuine termite eaten sticks and they looked good. They finally arrived and I played them, I thought they sounded good. I  bought a couple of more and each time it just didn’t seem like I had the right one. My friends thought I had gone mad and I would try to explain there was one out there for me I just  had to find it. 

I finally hooked up with Tynon from Heartland and we talked for a long time, the big question was if I spent this much money would the sound reflect it, no one could  answer this for me, but I took a chance and ordered two from Heartland, when I blew into each one of my new ones the question was answered. The difference from these to all the rest was like night and day. I know play Didj knowing what is coming out of it is from something very ancient and wonderful

 

Back to Didg Quiver CollectionMain DirectoryHeartland CatalogueForward to "Didg Catalog"