The music of the Aborigines is one of the oldest in music history, and unlike the European culture it does not know any melody instruments. Australian music - mostly vocal music - is part of birth, death and ritual acts, often accompanied by the Didgeridoo. There are no reliable sources stating the didgeridoo's exact age, though it is commonly claimed to be the world's oldest wind instrument. Archaeological studies of rock art in Northern Australia suggests that the Aboriginal people of the Kakadu region of the Northern Territory have been using the didgeridoo for about 1500 years, based on the dating of paintings on cave walls and shelters from this period. Authentic Aboriginal didgeridoos are produced in traditionally-oriented communities in Northern Australia and are usually made from hardwoods, especially the various eucalyptus species that are endemic to the region. Generally the main trunk of the tree is harvested, though a substantial branch may be used instead. Aboriginal didgeridoo craftsmen spend considerable time in the challenging search for a tree that has been hollowed out -by termites- to just the right degree. When a suitable tree is found and cut down, the segment of trunk or branch that will be made into a didgeridoo is cut out. The bark is taken off, the ends trimmed, and some shaping of the exterior then results in a finished instrument. The didgeridoo is played with continuously vibrating lips to produce the drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. This requires breathing in through the nose whilst simultaneously expelling air out of the mouth using the tongue and cheeks. By use of this technique, a skilled player can replenish the air in his lungs and can sustain a note for as long as he desires. It would be wrong to assume that there is any historic link between Didgeridoo and guitar, except the fact that both instruments are made of wood. The meeting of two excellent musicians in 2006 in Australia led to a spontaneous session the result of which can be heard on this CD. Djilile is an improvisation on Peter Sculthorpe’s work of the same name. The doyen of Australia’s contemporary music comments on his composition in 1986: “I have based a number of works upon Djiliile, meaning ‘whistling duck on a billabong’, an Aboriginal chant from Arnhemland. The present work began its life as a piano solo. I later decided to add a cello melody to it. The piano music being modal, I gave the cello line a somewhat chromatic line, music that is even a little romantic in the European sense. The work then demonstrates the principle of dualism, the co-existence of two independent ideas, a principle which has been consistently present in my oeuvre since the mid 1950s. Much of my music is also concerned with the environment and social issues. In this particular work, my intention is to suggest that it is possible for Australia’s Indigenous people and white Australians to live together in an harmonious manner.” Peter Sculthorpe’s comment (May 2007) on Wulfin Lieske’s and William Barton’s improvisation on his work reads really euphoric:“I love it! The beginning is wondrously magical, and then, when the improvisation proper begins, the music is absolutely transporting. The sound of the guitar is utterly magical and so very evocative of the Australian outback. I especially like the last part, bringing the music to a beautifully satisfying close. The chords are just wonderful. My thanks, Wulfin, to you and to William.” The Artists William Barton (Didgeridoo) I had an uncle, his name was Uncle Arthur Petersen, and basically he was a really great player of the didgeridoo. I used to sit down and listen to him and think, Geez, this is a really great sound that can really affect people in different ways. Growing up, I wanted to be able to share the culture beyond Mount Isa and take the didgeridoo out of its box and put it with an orchestra so that the violin and didgeridoo can be as one. William Barton William Barton is considered one of Australia’s leading didgeridoo players and composers and a powerful advocate for the wider perception of his cultural traditions. Born in Mount Isa in Northwestern Queensland, Australia, William was taught the instrument at an early age by his uncle, an elder of the Wannyi, Lardil, and Kalkadunga tribes of Western Queensland. In 1998, at 17 years of age, William played his first classical concert with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. His association, since 2001, with leading Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, has led to the inclusion of didgeridoo parts in several of Sculthorpe's orchestral works. Requiem (2004), a major work for orchestra, chorus and didgeridoo, premiered 2004 Adelaide Festival with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and at the UK’s Lichfield Festival with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, was composed with William Barton in mind, while five earlier works (Earth Cry, Songs of Sea and Sky, Mangrove, Kakadu, and From Ubirr) were re-arranged so as to include didgeridoo parts in them. Other Australian composers that William has worked with include Ross Edwards, Matthew Hindson, Sean O'Boyle and Philip Bracanin. Liza Lim’s work for orchestra, didgeridoo and flute, ‘The Compass’, jointly commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra received its World premiere at the Sydney Opera House in August 2006. The Munich Premiere took place January 2007. In 2003 William composed and performed a major commission for the Queensland Biennial Festival of Music called Songs of Mother Country. The Festival produced Kalkadoon Man, a documentary screened on the ABC, which sees William journey back to his homelands to find and make a didgeridoo out in the bush in the Argilla and Selwyn ranges of Queensland. He also performed it at the Colorado Music Festival/US that year. Other recent engagements have included the Sydney Festival’s Symphony in The Domain with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s Huntington Festival, Canada’s Edmonton Festival, the Estonian Music Festival, the Wassoi World Music Festival in Japan, Brisbane Festival, Australian Festival of Chamber Music and concerts with The Song Company, the Phoenix and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras. In 2005 William performed at the 90th Anniversary ceremonies at ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli, Turkey, toured with the Goldner String Quartet, nationally for Musica Viva, and at the Aldburough Festival, UK, and debuted in concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival in London. William appeared as a featured soloist in the Queensland Music Festival’s multimedia music theatre work Credo The Innocence of God, a project by Fabrica with the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Composed and Conducted by Andrea Molino, it was performed simultaneously via satellite in Belfast, Istanbul, Jerusalem and Brisbane, Australia. William spent three months living in Italy, collaborating with Fabrica musicians prior to this Festival premiere. Also in 2005, William was guest artist in an Australian Indigenous Music Project for Cite de la Musique in Paris. In November 2006 he returned to Paris for the European premier his own compositions for string quartet, didgeridoo and voice at the Pompidou Centre – a project titled "Journey of the rivers" de William Barton. Other highlights of 2006 included a German tour with the Queensland Ballet and concerts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Western Australian Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Philharmonia. In 2007 William has performed with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, the Reno Chamber Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and the Queensland Music Festival. International engagements include a performance at the Venice Music Biennale. DuoLointain (Rebecca Harris, cello and Wulfin Lieske) invited William to join their performance at the Darwin Festival 2007 and the International Guitar Festival Adelaide 2008. William’s ongoing collaborations and commissions with orchestras, choral directors and composers in Australia, America and Europe are creating a strong and positive sustainable future for the instrument and Australia’s Cultural Heritage. Through such collaborations and projects, William Barton aims to present the virtuosic potential of his instrument and richness of his Australian culture to audiences throughout the world. He hopes they will see this music, not just as an illustration of some exotic antiquity, but as a living, dynamic process, requiring considerable technique, stamina and study, equal to that of any conventional classically trained professional musician. Wulfin Lieske (guitar) “Wulfin Lieske approaches his listeners with a boundless capacity for making music come to life. His phrasing is always beautiful; he has convincingly logical agogic and dynamics, and an exceptionally immediate tone. He is able to give this music everything it needs as regards emotion, lightness of touch and virtuosity. Warmly delineated melodies of breathtaking lyrical beauty combine with sometimes dizzy­ing arpeggios and runs. A strong instinct for timing and rhythmic articulation allows the music's pulse to be clearly evident at all times." (Gitarre Konkret) Born in Linz, Austria, Lieske made his concert debut at 14 in the famous abbey on the Scottish island of Iona. Works by Bach and Villa-Lobos figured in the program together with improv­isations and compositions by himself. Wulfin Lieske went on to study at the state music school in Cologne, playing electronic guitar alongside classical, and amassed his early per­forming experience in very contrasting fields, which demanded great stylistic versatility on the one hand and on the other hand stimulated in him the curiosity which has influenced his work ever since. Today, as guitarist and compos­er, he is among the leading international musi­cal personalities in his field. His conception of music-making opens up completely new in­sights into traditional guitar music. Lieske's playing is full of sensitivity, with finely-chiseled detail and a vast spectrum of dynamics and coloring, combined with complete mastery of his instrument. The guitar as conveyor of the Mediterranean love of life, regularly combined with a well-chosen Latin-American repertoire perfectly within the instrument's tradition, appears again and again in his programs. In addition Wulfin Lieske likes to give the "old masters" their due. He therefore took an inten­sive interest in the legendary guitar maker Antonio de Torres and made a crucially impor­tant contribution to the rediscovery of the old Spanish guitar. The closest possible identifica­tion between performer and instrument, music and physical context, is created, going beyond stylistic boundaries and epochs and awakening a unique emotional need for the sound of the gui­tar and its chameleon-like ability to draw on all styles. This becomes apparent in his many CD recordings. To date he has worked with outstanding artists such as Gidon Kremer, Astor Piazzolla, Juan José Mosalini and the Hilliard Ensemble. In 1994 he founded the quartet "Bronsky Ritual", with which he has performed contemporary chamber music and thematic program cy­cles, sometimes enhanced by imaginative light­ing. His repertoire covers a span from Bach to free improvisation. In his solo recitals he likes to highlight the contrast between popular mu­sic in the border area between classicism and the folk traditions of Latin America and Spain on the one hand and the pioneering works of old and new music on the other. As a composer Wulfin Lieske draws from "the wealth of possibilities" offered by his instruments. They have made him experiment with the hu­man voice, different instruments, with motion and with the elements; his music alternates constantly between "expressivo" and “meditati­vo". Examples are compositions such as “Cinq tableaux sur Schubert”, “Nymphéas” d'après Claude Monet or “Taqsim” I - III and "Luxor Guitar Concerto" for amplified guitar, percus­sion and string orchestra. In 2000 his oratorio “Über den Wassern” was premiered at the Hanover Expo with the Hilliard Ensemble and the performance artist Saddia. Wulfin Lieske has devoted himself to combine old traditional instruments with the guitar, thus developing quite new tonal pattern – here with Willam Barton, the world's leading didgeridoo player, or with the Mongolian vocalist and morin khuur (horse-head fiddle) player, Fu-zhu Meng, on a future CD (Dajabur). Tanslated by Celia Skrine