Uploaded December 2010 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Caught up with old friend Dhapan recently, have been asking friends over at Elcho Island who they think is the best yidaki player there and Nelson's name came up consistently. So I just had to record him again! The last time was ok but the picture too green, the background being mostly grass and tree cover.
Search for Nelson Dhapan for old recordings we have of him on YouTube, there's some outstanding playing there even if there's a green tinge in the picture, maybe green from envy ay nah just joking!
I picked this yidaki for Dhapan to play as I had also recorded Adam Laga playing this same stick. It is a scorching Bob Burduwal mago but it has an usual quality to it in that it also has yidaki characteristics to its voice. It reminds me of the best examples of older-school ceremonial NEAL yidaki from the 1960s-70s era (throaty feel, more open bore in the neck region) with a hint of modern yidaki attributes (harmonics spread evenly over the acoustic spectrum, compression leaning towards modern rather than old-school).
Bob has put a lot of care into shaping the mouthpiece, you can tell straight away this was made for use if you stand it beside 10 others he has made from the same batch... some mouthpieces have just a 'lump' of sugarbag beeswax on it, all messy and rough-looking, whereas this one is smooth and shaped with love. Magical stick!
Dhapan plays what he considers to be bungalinybungaliny style from the west, knowing that the stick came from that way. I like how he does the stop-start sequence which is a 'trademark' pattern from Western Arnhem Land and around Beswick/Barunga.
Burduwal isn't making many sticks anymore, he's focussed more on fibre works unfortunately but with some luck I can encourage him to devote more time to crafting his spectacular mago.
Caught up with old friend Dhapan recently, have been asking friends over at Elcho Island who they think is the best yidaki player there and Nelson's name came up consistently. So I just had to record him again! The last time was ok but the picture too green, the background being mostly grass and tree cover.
Search for Nelson Dhapan for old recordings we have of him on YouTube, there's some outstanding playing there even if there's a green tinge in the picture, maybe green from envy ay nah just joking!
I picked this yidaki for Dhapan to play as I had also recorded Adam Laga playing this same stick. It is a scorching Bob Burduwal mago but it has an usual quality to it in that it also has yidaki characteristics to its voice. It reminds me of the best examples of older-school ceremonial NEAL yidaki from the 1960s-70s era (throaty feel, more open bore in the neck region) with a hint of modern yidaki attributes (harmonics spread evenly over the acoustic spectrum, compression leaning towards modern rather than old-school).
Bob has put a lot of care into shaping the mouthpiece, you can tell straight away this was made for use if you stand it beside 10 others he has made from the same batch... some mouthpieces have just a 'lump' of sugarbag beeswax on it, all messy and rough-looking, whereas this one is smooth and shaped with love. Magical stick!
Dhapan plays what he considers to be bungalinybungaliny style from the west, knowing that the stick came from that way. I like how he does the stop-start sequence which is a 'trademark' pattern from Western Arnhem Land and around Beswick/Barunga.
Burduwal isn't making many sticks anymore, he's focussed more on fibre works unfortunately but with some luck I can encourage him to devote more time to crafting his spectacular mago.
