Deadly Vibe Issue 45 October 2000

Alan began playing the didgeridoo at the age of five. As far as he is aware, he’s the only current didgeridoo player who can produce overtones on the instrument, thus allowing him to harmonise more easily with modern instruments and ensembles.

“I want to make the didgeridoo well known around the world,” he says. “And I mean in a musical sense, not just as a novelty act.”

Alan is renowned for establishing a unique musical rapport between the didgeridoo and other forms of world music, such as the rhythms of Africa, South America, American jazz and blues, and the music of ancient Ireland.

A versatile musician and actor, Alan performs regularly at cultural, folk and jazz venues and festivals around the world. He has shared the stage with a variety of musicians including James Morrison, Don Burrows, Jimmy Barnes, the new Led Zeppelin and Roy Ayers.

His debut album, Bloodwood, features Alan playing a 100-year-old didgeridoo made from a bloodwood tree in Arnhem Land that was presented to him as a child.

(Story 1/10/2000 end.)