Alan Dargin (13 July 196724 February 2008) was an

indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

musician and songwriter known for being a

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

player. He grew up in

Wee Waa Wee Waa () is a town located on the north-western slopes of the New England region in New South Wales, Australia. The town is within the Narrabri Shire local government area and is on the Namoi River. Wee Waa is north-west of Narrabri and no ...

and started learning the instrument at age five from his grandfather and other

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

elders. His signature instrument was over a hundred years old and was made from a blood wood

eucalypt Eucalypt is any woody plant with Capsule (fruit), capsule fruiting bodies belonging to one of seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

. He received his secondary education at St Pius X High School, Newcastle. Dargin worked as a busker on the streets of Sydney. He appeared with various symphony orchestras, including the

Vienna Philharmonic Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; ) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. Its members are selected from the orchestra of ...

and the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

; as well as in the United States, Japan, and Europe. In 1983 Dargin appeared in a five-part ABC-TV miniseries, ''

Chase Through the Night ''Chase Through the Night'' is a 1984 Australian film about a gang of bank robbers on the run. It was a five-part, 30-minute teleseries.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p25 The film is based o ...

'', alongside

Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...

. He had the role of Bruce in the feature film, '' The Fringe Dwellers'' (1986), and a cameo appearance in '' The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert'' (1994), as an unnamed cross-dresser. On

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is referred to, both legally and commonly, as () in French, though ''la fête nationale'' is also u ...

in 1994 he performed for the French President,

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

. He has contributed to albums by other artists:

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

and

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...

, Jimmy Barnes,

Tommy Emmanuel William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Originally a session player in many bands, he has released many award-winning recordings as a solo artist. In June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Aus ...

, Wallis Buchanan (

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai ( ) are an English acid jazz and funk band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in th ...

Yothu Yindi Yothu Yindi (Yolŋu Matha, Yolngu for "child and mother", pronounced , natively ) are an Australian musical group with Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal members, formed in 1986 as a merger of two bands formed in 1985 – a wh ...

, Alison Brown and Don Burrows, and filmed a documentary about Cape York with

Jacques Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the ...

. Dargin's last recording, ''MRD'', contains tracks that feature collaborations with musicians: Tommy Emmanuel, James Morrison, supplying didgeridoo in duet with other instruments: guitar, steel drums, keyboard, Chinese flute, trumpet, electric bass, and voice. The album was released in April 2008. Dargin held a degree in science from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. Dargin was diagnosed with burst veins in his throat and was warned by doctors that continued playing of the didgeridoo to generate a "fast, complex and loud sound" in "his forceful style" could endanger his life. In mid-February 2008 he was admitted to Saint Vincent's Hospital,

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city suburb in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the Ci ...

, and died of a

cerebral haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

on 24 February 2008. A memorial service was held at

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping terminal, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on the northern edge of the ...

on 28 February in that year, commencing with a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony that progressed along the quay to First Fleet Park. Hundreds attended and tributes were given by friends and relatives for the inventor of "Rock and Roll didjeridu".

Discography

* ''Bloodwood: The Art of the Didjeridu'' (by Alan Dargin and Michael Atherton) (1993) * ''Two Stories in One'' (by Alan Dargin and Reconciliation) (July 1994) * ''Cross + Hatch'' (by Dargin and Atherton) (March 1998) * ''DidgeriDuo'' (by Alan Dargin and Gary 'The DidgeMan' Thomas) (2001) Aquarius International Music * ''MRD'' (April 2008)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dargin, Alan 1967 births 2008 deaths Didgeridoo players Indigenous Australian musicians Musicians from New South Wales 20th-century Australian male musicians