November 2008 Newsletter from didjshop.com

Editorial

Another year is nearing its end and Christmas is getting close, which means there are only a few days left to take advantage of our huge Christmas Special (read more below).

This newsletter is a bit late and shorter then intended because I had an accident and tore off a ligament on my left thumb. While I am eternally grateful that it wasn't my right thumb, it is surprisingly hard to do things without using the left hand. Consequently some things are impossible to do without help, while everything else takes a lot longer and even typing is at snails speed...

This is also the reason why I need to apologise for not being able to offer you any new didjes yet. Well, I hope our Christmas Specials make up for that...

What you will find in this newsletter is the November winner, some great customer testimonials, an extensive Aboriginal news section and a cool story of philharmonic didjing.

In January 2009 will be the draw for our current price didj. If you have not yet entered the draw for this magnificent Brad Gosam didj valued at over A$1800, make sure you do so before the end of this month. Entries will close on 31 December, which will be your last chance to answer our 2008 questionnaire.

And if you can think of a good question (or several) to ask the worldwide didgeridoo community in next year's questionnaire, please email me with your suggestion. If we use your question in our 2009 questionnaire, you will receive an extra five entries in our 2008 didj competition, giving you much better odds of playing and owning that valuable Brad Gosam didj by the end of January!

Didjshop Didjnet has grown to nearly one thousand members, so no matter where you are in the world you have a good chance to find someone close by who can give you didj lessons, repair your didj or offer other didj related services.
If you know of any didj related events, please share them with others in our events calendar.
And if you have any didj related questions or just like discussing with other didj fans, please check out our Didj Forum. There are hundreds of people discussing all sorts of issues and you can browse through over 5000 messages in over 600 different topics.

From 20 to 28 October the Queensland government held a parliamentary sitting in Cairns, only the third time that the parliament sat outside of Brisbane.
Due to my involvement with the local community group CAST (Cairns Action on Sustainable Transport) we had a range of meetings with ministers and parliamentarians. After one of the meetings, I strolled around in the convention centre and stumbled upon a small exhibition section with some interesting books and a didgeridoo in a glass display.
I learned that the Queensland government is the only government in the world that permanently displays a didgeridoo. The didgeridoo, called 'Wind Yarn', was commissioned in May 2007 to mark the 40th anniversary of a 1967 referendum on Aboriginal rights. It was painted by Brisbane artist John Pene-Fonmosa and depicts the story of reconciliation with footprints and circles representing the journey of Aboriginal and European peoples through Queensland’s past, present and future. (see picture further down in this newsletter).
"The didgeridoo will be seen as a significant symbol of the Queensland parliament," the speaker of the Queensland state parliament, Mike Reynolds said. "It will be permanently displayed alongside the parliamentary mace, which symbolises the authority of the parliament and the speaker that is derived from the sovereign in the Westminster system of parliamentary government."
It made me feel good to live in Queensland!

Last but not least, please mark the next worldwide didgeridoo meditation on the solstice on 21 December on your calendars. Please do add the voice of your didgeridoo to our global chorus and please add your location to our world map, which already sports lots of dots, each representing a registered participant. Thanks a lot to all of you who have already registered to be part of that event. The more of you can participate, the merrier, so please do tell your friends about it as well.
Imagine all those people in different cultures and countries all around the world who are connected to each other through the sound of the didj and our awareness of the fragility of our beautiful planet. Please help make this a loud call for humanity to take care of the land, thanks.

Enjoy the rest of this newsletter...

Svargo

Last days of Super Specials

Last Days of very Special Offer
In our last newsletter we offered you between 15% and a massive 25% discount on one hundred didgeridoos!

While quite a few of these have been ordered already, there are still many great didjes left to choose from, but there are only a few days left to check them out!
There are discounts on didgeridoos of all types, sound qualities, length and artists to ensure that everyone, no matter what they are looking for, can find a bargain.

We also offer large discounts (up to 50%) on a whole range of products:
25% discount on all shields
15% discount on all small canvas paintings
25% discount on all medium canvas paintings
35% discount on all large canvas paintings
20% discount on all Aboriginal Jewellery
15-50% discount on Laura DVD and teaching videos and CDs

All of these Didjshop.com discounts are valid only until 10th December, so be quick to check them out!!!

Please also remember that the Australian dollar is presently at historic lows. Only a few month ago the Australian dollar was worth as much as 97 US cents and right now it is down around 65 US cents. While the Australian dollar did not loose as much against the Euro it still went down about 20%.
This significant devaluation of the Australian dollar combined with our special offer enables you to buy the worlds best didjes from Didjshop.com at half or less of what they cost six month ago, but only for a few more days!
So do not miss this unique opportunity and check out these specials!

Philharmonic Didjing

Didjshop.com is known for it's high quality musical instruments, but it is not every day that we are asked to supply a didj to be played with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. So when John Elliot contacted us earlier this year to please expedite his order for a D didj, we were a little bit surprised, but complied as best we could. We were glad to hear that John got his didj in time and the "Dreamtime Tales" performance in Cadogan Hall was a resounding success.

Here is John Elliot's account of the event:
"Earlier on this year, I received a telephone call from Richard Brown, a composer and conductor who has spent many years in Australia, and has recently moved back to London. Would I be interested in playing didge with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for two concerts of his music? It was to be the London premiere of his piece for didgeridoo and orchestra, "Dreamtime Tales". I thought it over for about three quarters of a second, and of course said yes. Purely by coincidence, in my "day job" as an orchestral tuba player, I had performed in the world premiere, and remembered the piece being a really nice showcase for the didge, so I was keen to have this chance to play it.

Richard emailed the solo part to me. It was nice, straightforward writing, written by someone who really knows what the didge is capable of. It required three didges, in the pitches of C, D, and E. I have a complete chromatic set of didgeridoos, (plus a slide didge) to cover all eventualities, but my 'D' didge was not of the same quality as the rest. It was OK for recording, but to project in the concert hall, I felt I needed something a little better. I emailed Svargo at the Didjshop, and explained the urgency of the situation. He had a didge in the post to me straight away, and it arrived with a few days to spare, giving me time to "blow it in", and get used to it.

I turned up for the first rehearsal, at the Cadogan Hall in London. I have often played tuba with the Royal Philharmonic, but my colleagues were a little surprised to see me turning up with three didgeridoos. I took my seat at the front of the orchestra, and we played through Richard's piece. It all went well, and I went back to my dressing room to wait for the first concert to start. Just to add to the pressure, the Australian ambassador was going to be in the audience, so I was glad to be using authentic equipment!
Both concerts were a huge success, and there is talk of doing more. Richard was delighted, and said that I had made the occasion. At the reception afterwards, I met several of the important guests who had been in the audience, (including the Australian ambassador), and was coaxed into playing some more didge for them. I took the chance to show off my new Didjshop 'D' didge. A very nice ending to one of the high spots of my didging career."

If you have an interesting didj story to share, especially if it helped to introduce the didj to a wider audience, please send it to us. It might not be a great public concert, but maybe some busking, teaching, animals reacting to your didj playing or anything else.
We did not have the "Spreading the Word" section for a while, simply because we have not had many people supply us with material for it. This is your space in our newsletter, so please use it and share your didj adventures and experiences, thanks.

Customer Testimonials and Visitor Comments

Maybe you are considering checking out our Christmas Super Special, but you are not sure whether you can trust us or whether you are really going to get what you'll order. Firstly let me tell you that about 1/3rd of our orders come from repeat customers which speaks for itself. Secondly there are hundreds of happy customers and you can check out the hundreds of great testimonials from our customers.

To give you a small taste, here are just a few comments from customers received over the last few weeks, comparing their new Didjshop didjes with other didjes they already owned:

• Sue Cadigan from USA: "This didj is outstanding. On all price, sound quality and value...this is glorious. I celebrate daily with it."
• Anonymous from French Guiana: "al620 is ten time better and the price is really attractive."
• Robert from United Kingdom: "Similar pricing but better sound quality."
• Anonymous: "Is the best...professional material!"
• Bernat from Canada: "Better sound and easy of play"
• Sam from Belgium: "Was a bit more expensive than previous one, but plays better."
• Anonymous from USA: "It would be crude to even compare the two, al683 is so good."

It is very rewarding for us to receive so much praise and recognition from our customers. A big THANK YOU to all of our customers for your continued support.

About 95% of respondents consider their new Didjshop didj to be at least as good as our description of that didj and over half of our customers think their new Didjshop didj is far better than they expected.
As far as service is concerned about 75% of our customers give us 10 out of 10 and only 0.6% give us less than 6 out of 10!!!
And on workmanship about 70% of customers give us 9 or 10 out of 10 and only 0.85% give us less then 6 out of 10!!!
Please feel free to read some more of the many great testimonials we constantly receive or consider to become a Didjshop customer yourself and take advantage of our Christmas Super Specials.

And here some of the many inspiring comments left by website visitors during the last month while filling in our 2008 questionnaire:

• Zachary Heidemann from USA: "Awesome job! The best resource for didgeridoos! Not only that, but the best source for true quality fair trade didjes... Can't beat this karma baby... Teach me oh great master... ;-)"
• Cezar Cayom from Brazil: "It's the greatest didj website in the world."
• Tony from United Kingdom: "It's a great site with lots of information and a real community spirit."
• Martin from South Africa: "I stumbled upon your site by chance  what more can i say  picture yourself as a little child   standing in a shop full of toys and sweets  everything your heart desires   smack in front of you  well that's the effect your site has for me."
• Marcin from Poland: "That's great that it isn't just a shop but a centre for a community."
• Anonymous from Portugal: "Didjshop is much more than a web is a home a place to  share and to learn study that allow you to be on permanent discovery. thanks didj lovers"
• Nathan from Australia: "Excellent site.... much more than just an online shop... great to see you promoting the important issues and supporting the community in so many ways."

If you have not yet done so, please fill out our 2008 questionnaire for your chance to win an amazing Brad Gosam didj valued at A$1800.-!

You can read more Didjshop comments here.

November Winner!

The winner of our November 2008 draw for a Didjshop.com $50 shopping voucher is Kei Tomono from Kashiwa in Japan.

Congratulations Kei, your winning ticket came from your latest didj purchase from Didjshop.com earlier this year.

Kei had about half a dozen didjes from other websites before he discovered Didjshop.com a couple of years ago. Since then he has bought already six didjes from us and commented this on his Didjshop didjes: "I like it very much Size , Value and Quality."
Like many others, Kei rated his didjes as much better then expected and like most of our customers he rates our workmanship and service as ten out of ten.

Thanks Kei for your positive feedback and we are looking forward to hear from you when you redeem your shopping voucher.

We wish to remind everyone that the major prize of our 2008 didj competition will be drawn in January and that entries will close on 31 December. So if you have not yet filled out our 2007 questionnaire, please do so soon for your chance to win this high quality didj valued at over A$1500!!!
You can also get additional entries by finding any dead links, typos or other mistakes on our website and letting us know about them. Or you can become a Didjshop affiliate or simply link to us from your website and let us know.

And until 24 December you can email us your suggestions for a good question (or several) to ask the worldwide didgeridoo community in next year's questionnaire. If we use your question in our 2009 questionnaire, you will receive an extra five entries in our 2008 didj competition!

Aboriginal News

Palm Island and the federal intervention are back in this month Aboriginal news. However there are also some good news about the handback of Karlu Karlu and the "Caring for Country" program:

• In the now infamous Palm Island riots, which followed the death in custody of Mulrunji, another chapter has been closed.
  As our last newsletter went out the jury in the trial of Les Wotton as the alleged ring leader of the riots was still pondering a verdict and Les himself was in hospital after collapsing just outside of the court, apparently from the immense strain of the proceedings.
  Well on the next day Les was released from hospital and the jury returned a guilty verdict. A separate hearing for sentencing was set for the 7th November.
  Soon after the verdict, Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson's announced that the police officers who were on Palm Island to quell the riots would receive bravery awards on 3rd November, only four days before Les Wotton's sentencing.
  Parliament Speaker Mike Reynolds, the Member for Townsville, said: "I'm clearly saying to Bob Atkinson, with a great deal of respect to him, I think it's provocative, it's culturally incompetent."
  Queensland Aboriginal community worker Sam Watson went as far as saying: "What the police are attempting to do is present themselves as victims and place pressure on the trial judge to hand down a very severe penalty. This is just not acceptable, this is cheap, brutal and thuggish politics."
  Palm Island Mayor Alf Lacey told Police Minister Judy Spence, who was due to visit Palm Island, that she is not welcome. He also asked QLD premier Anna Blight to "give awards to Palm Islanders that helped to put Palm back on the straight and narrow."
  But Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson rejected all calls to delay the award presentations and joined 150 police in Townsville for the presentation of 22 bravery awards and
  12 commendations to 32 officers. We could not find a list of the officers who received the awards and wonder whether senior sergeant Chris Hurley, who caused the death in custody, was one of them.
  Four days later Judge Michael Shanahan sentenced Les Wotton to seven years in jail, which was reduced to six years to account for the time Les already spent in jail.
  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma said: "It's a sad day for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that a sentence such as this has been handed down. Indigenous people are being forced into a situation where they have to react to be able to get attention."
• In our last newsletter we also reported about the Review of the Federal intervention into Aboriginal communities. One of its recommendations was the reinstatement of the permit system. The federal government agreed to do so and introduced the required legislation.
  Sadly it was defeated by the conservative opposition with the help of independents in the Senate.
  Ignoring the call from Aboriginal people to have the right to exclude people from their land just like every other land holder, opposition frontbencher Ian Mcdonald claimed that the permit system would create a "veil of silence" behind which some of the worlds worst criminal behaviour is allowed to happen.
  These are strong and in our opinion misleading words...
  As we have pointed out before in our opinion the permit system is an important tool to stop shady characters from entering Aboriginal communities. Since government workers and journalists would be excluded from the planned permit system, there would be no "veil of silence".
  We hope that the government will reintroduce the permit system next year and that the independent senators will support Aboriginal communities by voting for it.
• Meanwhile Barbara Shaw from the Intervention Rollback Action Group has asked a human rights lawyer to lodge a case against the federal intervention with the United Nations. She argues that the intervention is racially discriminatory, especially the compulsory quarantining of welfare payments and the continued suspension of the racial discrimination act.
  The federal government has rejected advice to make the scheme voluntary and said it will fine-tune the income management practices and then re-introduce the racial discrimination act, but not for at least twelve month.
  Presently income management only applies to Aboriginal people, which is clearly discriminatory and it seems difficult to reconcile compulsory race-related welfare quarantining with the act.
  We do note that there are Aboriginal people who think that income management is good as it stops family patriarchs from wasting the money on alcohol and other vices.
  We agree that it could be a useful tool, but as previously said, we believe that the only effective change will come from the communities themselves. There are many Aboriginal people and especially Aboriginal women who would love to see an end to violence and alcoholism. The government would be well advised to support all grassroots approaches to solve the problems in Aboriginal communities rather ten to continue the failed top-down approach of the former Howard government, which actually withdrew funding from grassroots initiatives.
• We are pleased to announce that the famous Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) area about 100km south of Tennant Creek has been handed back to its traditional owners, the Warumungu, Kaytetye, Warlpiri and Alyawarra people. Included in the deal is 1119 square kilometres of land at the proposed Davenport Murchison Range National Park.
  This is the culmination of a 28 year struggle by traditional owners to gain recognition and control of their land after the High Court initially dismissed their land claim, which was first lodged in 1980. As part of the now successful deal the traditional owners agreed to lease back the 17.75 square kilometre Devil's Marbles Conservation reserve to the Northern Territory government for 99 years.
  "These people have fought for years to protect this place against developments which would have seen road detours and a railway line cut through the site" said Central Land Council (CLC) director David Ross, "I sincerely hope that these hand-backs will provide a sense of peace and relief."
• The federal government has announced the employment of 300 indigenous rangers as part of it's 2 billion dollar "Caring for Country" program. Remote Aboriginal communities will also be paid to fight weeds and feral animals on about two million square kilometres of Aboriginal land.
  This is a program that looks like it could go a long way to help remote Aboriginal communities as well as facilitate good land management.

Please participate in the next Worldwide Didj Circle on 21 December at your local sunset time...
and remember to check out the Christmas Special that will finish on 10th December!!!

Keep on didjing until next month

from Svargo and the DIDJSHOP.COM team