My name is Loïc Martin, I am a spanish didjeridoo enthusiast based in Belgium. 

I discovered the didjeridoo around 1996 and since, my curiosity and love for the instrument and the culture that lays behind, led me to Arnhem Land for the first time in 2005, where I did some volunteering at the Buku larrngay mulka art center in Yirrkala.

 

During my few visits to northeast Arnhem land over the years, I have learned traditional ways of making didjeridoos or yidaki with great artists such as D***u Gurruwiwi, Larry Gurruwiwi, D*tj*rr* Wunungmurra or G*rr*r*m*w*y Munyarryun.  My interest in traditional didjeridoos also grew, as I learned some traditional playing techniques and could also see the important connections between the instrument, the people, the art and the land. Yolŋu culture struck me with its full power and I have been involved with it since. 

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As a translator, I have contributed to bringing yidaki and Yolŋu culture to spanish speakers through the translation of "Didjeridoo story from far Northeast Arnhem Land" (www.yidakistory.com) by Randin Graves in collaboration with the Yolŋu of northeast Arnhem Land and I have also translated into french Why Warriors lie down and die a book on health and social crisis in northeast Arnhem Land.

 

I love traditional yidaki and Yolŋu culture from which I try to learn a little more every day. It's such an amazing and rich culture, complex and perfectly designed to last as it has, more than 40.000 years! It is important to support the artists from Arnhem land, to help preserving the culture, supporting so much talent and encouraging so many fantastic young artists. That's what Buku-Larrngay Mulka art center in Yirrkala does, supporting artists coming from all Miwatj region. Other art centres in other communities in Arnhem Land do the same, I sometimes go to these places to check for instruments. 

 

Since 2006, I have been buying yidaki from Yirrkala. I try to keep yidaki alive, now that didjeridoo is widely known and played and also crafted in so many ways , let's not forget where the didje came from in the first place and who  the traditional owners are. 

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I make didjeridoos out of local wood here in Belgium, very often inspired by the yidaki itself, similar in dynamics and sound, but Termitadidjes didjeridoos are contemporary, suitable for all styles but without the cultural value that yidaki has. They are great to play!

 

Feel free to contact me if you are interested in any of my instruments or traditional instruments.

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