Cultural exchange project with Jamie Ah Fat

Jamie recently spent a week on the Sunshine Coast in a project organised by Rene Bahloo, of Weavery. What a beautiful experience it was to share time with this traditional knowledge holder from Arnhem Land and to learn about the making and playing of the didjeridoo. They call this ceremonial instrument ‘ganbark’ in the central arnhem Dalabon language, other names are yidaki, bambu, muhgool and just plain ‘stick’. It is made from the naturally termite-hollowed trunk of a particular species and shape of eucalyptus tree, then sanded and shaped to length for the level of sound desired. Jamie Ah Fat learned to play the ganbark from ceremony leader David Blanasi and the traditional cultural group White Cockatoo, and had his debut at the first Barunga Festival of indigenous culture in the early 1970’s. White Cockatoo were the  group of traditional knowledge holders and ceremony men who had travelled all the way to London in 1970 to play for the queen of England, on her birthday. David Blanasi was known for many years in the Arnhem Land region as the mago style didj master, and his crafting and playing skills were legendary. Jamie inherited much of the knowledge he holds through ceremony and through the mentoring of his maternal grandfather, Fred Blitner.

This cultural sharing project with Jamie Ah Fat is the first to touch our Sunshine Coast shores, and served as a taster for Jamie who is fuelled to share his knowledge before he leaves this earth and his knowledge gets lost.

The Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) is a partnership between the Queensland Government and Sunshine Coast Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.

An amazing thing happened during the course of our workshops – an impromptu collaboration/ music jam between Jamie Ah Fat and Velvet Pesu (singer and performance artist), a weaving workshop participant present on the day – just listen to this Please enter the url to a YouTube video.! And it then became a performance at the Powerhouse in Brisbane, which resulted in this! Please enter the url to a YouTube video.

We are happy to discuss future projects and collaborations in order to bring this experience and knowledge to your community.

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The Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) is a partnership between the Queensland Government and Sunshine Coast Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.