The Yidaki (didgeridoo) is a sacred instrument to the Yolngu people.
**Gulpul **people call it the yidaki, Mundapul or the Duwa.
It is a spiritual instrument used in ceremony, dance, storytelling and Yolngu Law.
The story passed down by Gulpul ancestors tells us the yidaki was found by a Gulpul man who stumbled across it laying next to a river.
He began playing the marnpull and it began making a vibrating sound like the wind swirling.
The yidaki is a sacred instrument used to heal people of the Gulpul tribe.
A spiritual keeper of the yidaki is a nature man who can see, hear and feel everything.
When someone passes away, the Gulpul people use the yidaki/duwa/mandapul to send them away.
Manikay (ancestral songs) that have been passed down for generations, billamar (clap sticks) and bungool (dancing) are all used with the yidaki during ceremonies, dance, initiation and art.
It is important to ask for permission to play the yidaki.
Traditionally women can’t play the yidaki, only men.
The yidaki is created from the trunk of the eucalyptus tree, hollowed out by termites.
Humans then strip off the bark layers and clean out the rest of the hollow wood, cleaning out any remaining portions.
The mouthpiece is made from beeswax collected by women or men and applied on the smaller end.