Portrait of a Didgeridoo passionate…

Raphaël Didjaman was in first saxophonist jazz and Deejay until the age of 27, it all tacked a day to go to Australia. On these original lands, he discovered the didgeridoo. Listening to aboriginal rites, he felt that this instrument would be at the heart of all the changes that would be in his life… It was in 1995.

He spent a year in Australia, in the outback, learning constantly, following the advice of players of great renown. Then he meets Andrew LANGFORD, Ash DARGAN, David HUDSON and Mark ATKINS in Alice Springs… and these experiences will be decisive and will decide him to professionalize.

Since then, every year, he goes to Australia, improves with ever more rigor, and collects the precious eucalyptus woods that he will then work in his workshop to make authentic didgeridoos.

Respecting each wood, he works them so as to accentuate the acoustic characteristics, to make the sound purer, more toned, more suave and to vibrate the material without ever distorting it.

With a discography of more than 16 albums, 3 educational DVDs, and many renowned artistic meetings (he use to play with Actors, Directors, Singers, etc.), Raphaël has become an experienced player and a well-known luthier the happiness of all didgeridoo enthusiasts.

After the release of his first two musical albums “VIBRATIONS” and “TECHNOLODIDGE” in the 2000s, he founded in 2007 his own musical label TRIBAL ZIK RECORDS, highlighting the Didgeridoo in all its musical forms. This slogan will allow him to manage his own career and produce other artists like SCHAYE B, JENNILLIAN, SAHAR BENTABET, EEBUKLEY, ELJAHIZHED…

In 2007, he recorded in Australia the educational DVD “THE ESSENTIAL of DIDGERIDOO, Vol.1” which will allow him to settle in the world of professional musicians and music teachers.

2012 is a year when a real shift is made for Raphaël Didjaman, with the proposal of the great french conductor ZAHIA ZOUANI who proposes to become the first official soloist in the OSD (Symphony Orchestra DIVERTIMENTO).

In 2019, his history and his personality make strong personalities of the CNRS and Muséum de Paris contact him to make an epic album named “JURASSIC SOUNDS” released in May 2019, with the great and huge astrophysicist HUBERT REEVES and the paleontologist Jean-Sébastien STEYER.

Direct, straight and uncompromising, Raphaël Didjaman surfs the wave of honest and sincere meetings with feeling. Taboo and ambiguity are not his favorite dishes as he likes to say :

– ” I like simple and creative projects because it’s hard to be simple and go to the essentials nowadays ! That’s what I like in the didgeridoo. A simple piece of wood, but that scotche everyone when we hear what we can do today ! This 20 000 year old instrument mixes with classical music, Metal, Techno and Electro, Relaxation and Zen, Salsa, Reggae, Hip Hop… just with a tree trunk when you think about it… is it not that quite simple ?! “

Raphaël Didjaman.