2 Ethnic Instruments

Here are 2 of my ethnic instruments. The one on the left is a didgeridu, and the one on the right is an erhu (二胡).

The Didgeridu, or 'Didge' as it is sometimes called (also known by its native name 'yidaki'), is a simple cylinder of wood (often eucalyptus, sometimes bamboo) hollowed out by termites (or artificially, for the hand made variety). It's a native Australian aborigine instrument that uses buzzing lips to play. It's traditionally a man's instrument and women are not allowed to play it. It's often decorated with aborigine art and the mouthpiece is usually made of beeswax. The piece I have was given by my brother and is beautifully decorated. I'm not sure about the sound quality as I'm not very familiar with this instrument. Some didges are made of other materials like metal or PVC tubing, but the wooden ones sound the best.

The Erhu is a bow-string instrument, the Chinese equivalent of the western violin. It has a natural melancholic timbre and can sound very heart-wrenching when played well. This is attributed to its construction, part of which consists of a piece of python skin stretched over the soundbox. A saddle or bridge is placed between the skin and the 2 metal strings to transfer the vibrations. The horsehair bow is strung between the 2 strings (unlike the violin where the bow is a separate piece) and played by pulling it against the strings. Unlike the violin which has a fingerboard, the erhu's strings are floating. I bought my piece at a good $250. The original price was somewhere around $520.