August 2009 Newsletter from didjshop.com

Editorial

Welcome to another Didjshop.com newsletter.
Regular readers would have noticed that what used to be a monthly newsletter has slowed to a bi-monthly one and now we even had a two month gap for the first time. I am quite aware that many of you would prefer to receive an issue every month (thanks for the email feedback).

However my life has just become even busier and I can only apologise. It does take about a week of solid work for each issue and while I love informing the by now over fifteen thousand readers of this newsletter on Aboriginal and didgeridoo issues, there are only so many hours in the day.

One project that has taken up a lot of my time, but is also very close to my heart is Kanjini Co-Op. Over the last three years I have been meeting with like-minded people to prepare for the creation of this Cooperative, which will happen next month.
We intend to create a Cooperative so we can pool our energies, be they financial or physical or creative, to create a sustainable settlement. This is a multi-million dollar project and involves us buying a large property where we want to grow organic food for ourselves and to sell, where we want to be largely self-sufficient by using and developing alternative technology and renewable energies and where we want to share the work, the food and the fun.
Together we can create and showcase local solutions to global problems.
We believe that western society cannot keep living the way it currently does, it is clearly destroying the planet. We notice that big business and the media have an interest in the fragmentation of society and by now the majority of households in western society are single person households. By promoting this extreme individualism, they can sell their news and their products to more households.
At Kanjini Co-Op we want to re-discover the joys and advantages of communal living. It is so much more fun and less work for everyone if we live together and share, and it is better for the planet as we will use less resources.
So if you are interested, please check out the Kanjini Co-Op website, and if you know anyone who might be interested, please pass this on, thank you. Not every member needs to live here straight away and the more money we can pool right now the better the property, which we can buy.

A rare visit by my daughter has also reduced my time available for the business. However I have really enjoyed spending some quality time with my daughter and visiting with her some of our local attractions like the Undara lava tubes, Innot hot springs, the Millstream and Tully falls, the Crater, the 40-mile-scrub and Paronella park. It is funny sometimes to realise how many wonderful spots are in this magic area and how rarely most locals visit them. It was great to see some of them again and it was great to have a few days off. I will share some photos with you in the next few newsletters.

I had another three days off in June which I spent at the Laura Aboriginal dance festival, the biggest Aboriginal festival in Australia. I wanted to write a whole section about the Laura festival, but since I am already way too late with this newsletter, I will do so on another occasion and just share a couple of images with you in this newsletter, enjoy.
I always love going to Laura. Camping with several thousand people in the Australian outback, many or most of which are Aboriginal, creates a special energy. There were many new Aboriginal dances performed at this years festival, both traditional dances never performed before as well as new contemporary dances. It is great that new dances are being developed, a sign of a healthy and alive culture! It made me think on the effect our western interest has in "traditional culture". Its as if we now want Aboriginal people to remain stagnant in a culture that was largely destroyed by us. I think we need to be very aware that we do not impose our expectations of Aboriginal culture onto Aboriginal people, but that we encourage Aboriginal people to do whatever it takes to rediscover their culture and if that means new dances and totally new art styles, then let us welcome those...
Similarly at the recent first ever Cairns Aboriginal arts exhibition and fair there were quite a few contemporary Indigenous artworks showing that Aboriginal culture is alive and changing. This was also a wonderful event and a big success with about ten thousand people visiting the exhibition. We congratulate UMI Arts who did a great job organising this new event and we hope that it will become a regular event in the Cairns calendar and in the Aboriginal art world.

Back to business...
We have worked on and uploaded over one hundred new didjes to our virtual didgeridoo shop and are working on yet another big batch. For more info on those new didjes see the below newsletter section which also tells you all about the special offer we currently have.

In this newsletter you can read about the last and next Worldwide Didgeridoo Meditation, check out customer and visitor comments and read lots of interesting Aboriginal news.

Talking about visitor and customer comments, we are proud to announce that our Didjshop.com guest book has accumulated over one thousand comments. We challenge anyone to find a single negative comment in there, and no, this is not because we edit any negative comments, we don't. The only editing we do is to remove links to other websites and nonsensical or offensive postings.

We'd also like to remind everyone who has ever bought a didj from us to fill out our customer questionnaire. We'd love to know what you think and feel about your purchase from us and as an incentive you will receive additional entries to our 2009 didj competition. So if you have ever bought a didj from us and have not yet done so, please fill out our customer questionnaire for your chance to win one of those three prize didjes.
And if you have not yet filled out our 2009 visitor questionnaire, please do so, it will give you two entries into the draw for the three prize didjes we have this year.

Near the bottom of this newsletter you will also find the lucky June, July and August winners , who each have won a $50 shopping voucher for Didjshop.com.

Enjoy the rest of this newsletter....

Svargo

New Didjes and Special Offer

New Didjes
Due to low supply and high demand, our stock level over the last few month has been lower then for many years. In fact we were surprised that sales did not drop but stayed strong, which in turn depleted our stock level even faster.
Well the didj draught has finally been broken! We are glad to be able to announce that we have added over 120 new didjes to our virtual shop a couple of weeks ago. Yes you read right, over one hundred and twenty new didjes.
Apologies that the sound files were not immediately available, but now you can listen to all concert class didjes as usual.

As you would expect with such a huge batch of new didjes there is a wide variety and no matter what you are looking for, there should be some new ones on offer to suit your requirements.

There are some very light didjes including a 137cm long didj weighing less then 1.1 kg! This is one of the very best didjes a sound healer could wish for.
Over ninety of these new didjes are of concert quality and over twenty of them are high concert class didjes.
If you like the natural look in a didj, you will be pleased to know that there are over ten new Bark Didjes. There are plenty of new Healing Didjes and Travellers Didjes.
For all of you who are new to didjes, you will find a wide variety of new Cheap Learners as well as Concert Learners. And if you like something out of the ordinary, check out the Unusual Shapes, there are some real beauties in there

As a valued newsletter reader you can view the new didjes using this link.

Special Offer
Usually we have a special discount offer in the first half of the year, but this year things were too busy and we simply had too few didjes in stock. So now our stock level is back to normal, we make you a special offer on some of our older stock.

We are offering a 15% discount on 75 didjes for one month only. Just like the new didjes, this special discount offer covers didjes of all types, length and sound quality.
So no matter what kind of didj you are looking for, you are likely to find a didj on special which fulfils your criteria. CHECK THEM OUT!

Enjoy browsing...

Worldwide Didgeridoo Circle keeps Growing

Wow! the last Worldwide Didgeridoo Meditation was the biggest blast yet!!!
Over a thousand people in over 450 locations in fifty different countries participated in this massive global didgeridoo circle on 21st June. Together we covered over twenty time zones!!

THANK YOU to every single participant, it is inspiring to see how this idea has taken off and it feels wonderful to play didj together with that many people all around the world :-).

Check out this huge list of participants:

Simon in Queenstown, Max in Whangarei, Josef Hodel in Mapua, New Zealand; Tony in Canberra, Raffaele in Newcastle, Patrick in Grafton, Janawirri in Junee, James Mitchell in Lightning Ridge, Joe Hagarty in Spring Creek, Gerard Gerard in Cairns, Arlo Ussher-Clarke in Sydney, Philip Harland in Yarwun, Svargo in Kuranda, Owen Norris, Peter Murley in Noosa Heads, Greg in Yeppoon, Jeremy Prentice, Lyn Wain, Ray in Melbourne, Dan in Rosebud, Tina in Rowville, Ros in Strathalbyn, Australia; Rob McGuinness in Asaka, Saitama, Japan; Arun in Bali, Indonesia; Ravinderjit Singh, Ravinderjit Singh in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Pernille Torben in Pattaya, Aydan Stuart in Det Udom, Thailand; Manas Chowdhary in Assam, India; Ugen L Dorji in Phuentsholing, Bhutan; Deshapriya Sam Wijetunge in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka; Reza Ghased in Tehran, Iran; Oscar Mann in Nairobi, Kenya; Alex Antipin in Moscow, Fairugr Dmitry, Nikita Malov, Pavel Ragozin in Saint Petersburg, Elena Enkova in Sankt-Peterburg, Russia; Anatoliy Savchenko in Kiev, Ukraine; Agnes in Nicosia, Cyprus; Triinu in Võru, Estonia; Petri Aitta-aho in Hämeenlinna, Robin DeWan in Helsinki, Tero Karvinen in Tampere, Finland; Eleftheria in Heraklion, Greece; Andrey Garbuzar in Riga, Latvia; Irene Nikoloski in Struga, Macedonia (FYR); Klaus Wintersteller in Salzburg, Rudolf Gander, Tim Reinhartz in Vienna, Austria; Peter Steyvers in Beringen, Giulio Minguzzi in Brussels, Bart and Els in Heverlee, Bart Devos in Kortrijk, Geert Vercauteren in Nieuwkerken-Waas, Johan Thaens in Overpelt, Roel Adriaensens in Stabroek, Damien Fastre in Tongeren, Bart Devroey in Waanrode, Danny in Mechelen, Werner Peeters in Wechelderzande, Belgium; Sven in Zagreb, Croatia/Hrvatska; Jan Stanek in Havířov, Jan Vlach in Osek, Jiri Heller, Linda Novakova, Ondrej Smeykal, Petr Kralik in Prague, Jan Vaclavek in Raskov, Jan Havranek in Velke Pavlovice, Jakub Eifler in Veseli, Czech Republic; Martin Soerensen, Martin Soerensen in Odense, Soren Dahl in Randers, Flemming Jans, Lasse in Roende, Denmark; Mitch in Andolsheim, John in Brest, Flukiger Sylvie in Chatebier, Fab in Laval, Phil in Luzech, Carol Alton, Tripault Fabrice in Paris, Olivir Labrevoir in Pierrerue, Abraham Michel in Rouffach, France; Klaus Burger in Baden-Baden, Alessandro, Guenter Morunga, Katja Neumann, Pierre Arlt in Berlin, Thomas in Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, Claus Heckl in Senden, Oliver Heltewig in Wuppertal, Kenneth und Dorothee McNaughtan in Reute, Sven Apenburg in Erlangen/Nuremberg/Fuerth, Jutta Reichert in Muenchen, Didge 'N' Culture Berlin in Berlin, Hans Juergen in Duisburg, Philipp Gerisch in Schneckenstein, Germany; Imre Tamas, Szabolcs friends in Budapest, Hungary; Marco Paoletti in Acquapendente, Gabriele Gubbelini in Bologna, Luca Recupero in Catania, Federico in Merano, Andrea Giacomo Grigolo in Padova, Michele Mancusi in Piombino, Loretta in Roma, Matthew Coplan in Rome, Paolo Sanna in Sardara [Ca], Stefano Crocelli in Terni, Moreno in Torino, Zoe in Trento, Matteo B in Trieste, Gabriele in Rubano, Antonio Mara in Arzachena, Italy; Lars Ley in Dudelange, Luxembourg; Bart Vrancken, Clemens Brunschot in Eindhoven, Mario Peters in Heerlen, Ian Hollanders, Ian Hollanders in Maastricht, Anu van Leeuwen in The Hague, Robert in Tilburg, Ronald Dolleman in Doetinchem, Talkingdidges Anu van Leeuwen in Vught, Frans Essers in Heemskerk, Talking Didges Anu and Anisho-e in The Hague and Vught, Netherlands; Jostein Wold, Jostein Wold, Ruby Elisabeth Skatvedt in Stavanger, Norway; Tomasz Jarmolkiewicz in Chelmno, Artur Domin in Cieszyn, Arkadiusz Buczek in Krosno, Irek Rychlewski in Zary, Poland; Arpad Toth in Ibiza, Juan Diaz in Malaga, Josep Jansa in Mont-roig del Camp, Juan in San Isidro de Níjar, Elias Mena in Igualada, Spain; Ahmed Malik in Stockholm, Mickael Forsberg in Ostersund, Jim Barrett in Umea, Sweden; Michel Balogh, Michel Balogh in Aurigeno, Roger Herzig in Bern, Stephan Horisberger in Bern, Willi Grimm in Berne, Urs Feller in Gersau, Laszlo, Laszlo Prucz in Hinterkappelen, Francesco Aiello, Francesco Aiello in Mugena, Peter Ammann in Niederlenz, Bernhard Gaertner in Seewen, Samuel Fluekiger in Solothurn, Felice Limacher in Zurich, Severin Bisewski in Schaffhausen, Francesco Aiello in Mugena, Switzerland; Fran6 Ahaw in Antibes, Nicolas in Creteil, Bourgin Nathalie in Paris, Papon Daniel in Annecy, France; Thomas in Tralee, Paul in Belfast, Ireland; F in Funchal, Sebastiao in Leiria, Ruben Branco in Porto, João Saldanha in Sintra, Luis Baldaia in Vila Nova de Gaia, Ivo in Vila Nova de Milfontes, xXxRenaxXx in Mem Martins, Portugal; Juan Antonio in Cadiz, Spain; Willi Grimm in Berne, Switzerland; Simon in Bedford, James Lewis in Berkshire, Rolf Neugebauer in Bramhope, Keith in Buckie, Dean Archer in Cirencester, Mark and Peter in Durham, Bernie Bailey in Girvan, Scott Stewart in Glasgow, Andy Wood in Haworth, Rob in Keynsham, Kev Bates in Lincoln, Fred stevens, John Elliott in London, Andy in Margate, Savannah Clark in Monmouth, Mike Evans in Newark-on-Trent, Malcolm Pengelley in Newton Abbot, Didgeridoo Pete in Northampton, Tony Johnson in Peterborough, Bryan in Richmond, Angela Hatton in Shetland Islands, Alan Cocker in South Cadbury, Tony Morris in Wallingford, Ian in Luton, Chris Glover in Newbury, Baz Adams in Peterborough, Gary in Northampton, Storm Alteryus in Great Torrington, Neil Wakeling in Aviemore, Des Holmes in Coulsdon, United Kingdom; Jean Carlo Rodriguez Solis in San Jose, Costa Rica; Deva Shandro, Laura Pimas, Matias in Buenos Aires, Martin in Merlo, Argentina; Edna Spennato Spennato in Maceio, Marcel Lucena in Fortaleza, David Lucena in Porto Alegre, Thiago Bolivar in Campinas, Joachim in Sao Roque, Brazil; Julio Pena in Asuncion, Paraguay; Stuart Kirkpatrick in Warwick, Bermuda; Jerry Dworske in Greenbackville, USA; Darline Guerra, Santiago Rojas in Santiago, Chile; Sergio in Bucaramanga, Colombia; Julio Pena in Luque, Paraguay; Blake Simpson in Port Angeles, USA; Joshua in St. John, Jonathan Coote in Owen Sound, Steven Lloyd in Brantford, Cathy Lemay in Cornwall, Dave Nelson in London, Michael Prayag in Newmarket, Gary Diggins, Geoff, Spencer Bilodeau in Toronto, Claude Beaucaire in Laval, Vincent Lemay in Montreal, Canada; Alberto Clavijo in Bogotá, Colombia; Richard in Cusco, Max Renato Rivera Pantigozo in Lima, Arequipa, Peru; Caspa Harris in Blue Ridge Mountains, Tyler Sussman in Brooklyn, Edward Weber in Clearwater, Adam DiIulio in Monroe, Ed Huntley in Oxford, Gary B in Sterling, Connecticut, Dan in Washington, DC, Alec Grae in Bradenton, James Parker III in Coconut Creek, Matty in Edgewater, Steve Eliot in Fort Lauderdale, Jeannie in Jacksonville, Steve Hardman in Key West, Gilberto Ramirez-Pinheiro in Orlando, Henry Matutino in St. Cloud, Fred Ashplant in Stuart, Ron in Titusville, Florida, Dustin Camper, Ga, Dustin Camper in Brunswick, Eric Haney in Cave Spring, Jim Smelcer in Ellijay, Jason Wynn in Grovetown, Marc Del Santro in Roswell, Dovin Herring in Thomasville, Georgia, Angie Lo in Indianapolis, Dr. Boys in Plymouth, Indiana, Tonia Pinheiro in Randolph, MA, James Ward in Clinton, Ralph Ray in Shady Side, Maryland, Matt LePage in Chicopee, Massachusetts, Robert Houghton in North East, MD, Peggylynn Terrien in Clinton Township, Michigan, Steven Williams in Clinton Township, Le Perkins in Howell, Peter Richards in Kalamazoo, Paul, Ronald Jensen in Royal Oak, Cliff Mortimer in White Lake, Michigan, James in Hernando, Mississippi, Jason Andre in Wilmington, NC, Mike Driscoll in Derry, Julia Passamonti-Colamartino in East Wakefield, Joseph Carringer in Ordiorne Point, Rye, New Hampshire, Paul Cyr in High Bank, suzen vizzoni in lavallette, Suzen Vizzoni in Lavallette, suzen vizzoni in lavallette, Bill Hahn in Pittstown, Terry Brown in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, Damon in Hillsdale, Priya Satya in New York, Christopher Weber in Owego, Tom Maucher in Rosendale, Charlie in Sanborn, New York, Jim in Rochester, NH, Summergold Rudolph in Hammonton, NJ, Jerry Brendle in Asheville, Edward Olson in Charlotte, Steav Bates-Congdon in Waxhaw, Steve O'Neil in Zirconia, North Carolina, AJ Block in Broklyn, Mark Sonzogni in Red Hook, NY, Jake Richman in Bowling Green, Mark, Mark Webster, Mark Webster, Mark in Columbus, OH, Marceau James in Bedford, Jeff Harris in Canton, Gary Peacock, Jon Reams in Cincinnati, Geoff Todt in Columbus, Bart Reinier in Harrod, Dave in Hiram, Michael Eastlake in Sardinia, Ohio, ButterflyLinda Marie in Evansburg (State Park!), Robert Heller in Honey Brook, Sherwood Probeck in Lansdale, Ron Greenberg in Morgantown, P.J. Belic in Pittsburgh, Chris in State College, Pennsylvania, Andrew Laird in North Scituate, Rhode Island, Clare, Laura Phillips in Chattanooga, Ellie Hjemmet in Roan Mountain, Tennessee, Brian Eckert in Burlington, Shoshana and Nicole Boar in White River Junction, Vermont, ET in McLean, USA; Craig in Winnipeg, Canada; Gabriel Solis, Miguel in Heredia, Costa Rica; Marcela Pazmino in Quito, Ecuador; Luis Antonio Galindo Castro in Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico; Rhonda Williams in Fayetteville, Arizona, Tim, Tim Porcelli, Tim in Chicago, Eric Knapp in Decatur, Scott Hazen in Mt Prospect, Illinois, James Lopez in Topeka, Kansas, Leo Desmond in Brainerd, Minnesota, Jeff Houston in Greenwood, Patrick Bodine in Wiggins, Mississippi, Carol in Maplewood, Missouri, David Geiss in Bellevue, Dave Snyder in Lincoln, Nebraska, Amber in Lexington, Steve Jones in Oklahoma City, Curtis, Curtis in Perkins, Jackie Molloy in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Peggy Adams, Peggy Adams in Memphis, Greg in Nashville, Tennessee, Loping Buzzard in Austin, Devlin Niles in Corpus Christi, Carl f in Garland, David Klein in Lubbock, Connie Petruskevich in Lytle, David Klein in Plano, Arlie Everett in Point, Texas, Carolyn Baker in Rosharon, TX, Pam in Burlington, USA; Dominic Young in Calgary, David Bruinsma in Edmonton, kyle walker in Grande Prairie, Jay Rechner in Jasper, Angus Liedtke in Cranbrook, Dan Desmarais in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada; Paul Bishop in Rimrock, Allen Smith Rainbow Didge Music in Tucson, Arizona, John Hopper in Aurora, Co, Angie Pierce in Denver, Steve Hardman in South Fork, CO, Rod Krug in Colorado Springs, Janis, josh kamien in denver, Jennifer in Erie, Matthew Medeiros in Fort Collins, Gusty Christensen in Longmont, Colorado, Rual Anderson in Melba, Idaho, Zack Lessley in Bozeman, Mandela Leola van Eeden, Michael Rainbow, Montana, Daniel Johnson in Missoula, MT, Jacqueline in West Wendover, Nevada, Kim in Albuquerque, Ceki Marriott in Clovis, Tomas Bown in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Rolf Hebenstreit in Moab, Utah, Lou Farley in Laramie, USA; Adisa in Parksville, Tanya Kendall in Victoria, Ric Bivar in Nelson, John Watson in Vancouver, Ric Bivar in Nelson, Eric Boucher in Queen Charlotte, Haida Gwaii, Denis Gagne in Terrace, Ann Vandrick in Vancouver, Tanya Kendall in Victoria, Gypsy Mama in Whaletown, British Columbia, Canada; Anam in Berkeley, Drew Hutchinson in El Cerrito, Dan in Pasadena, Dianna La Fleur in San Clemente, Keri H. in Sonoma, Steve Jacobs in Vacaville, Andjru Werderitsch in Topanga, Ca, Kevin Huston in Alpine, Micah Hagan in Calabasas, Andre Driscoll in Carmel-By-The-Sea, Mario Gonzalez in Daly City, Barney in Fresno, Edward Bishop in Hanford, David Peterson in Hopland, Ken in Huntington Beach, Andjru Werderitsch in Malibu, Joy Hughes in Middletown, Shaun in Novato, Jerry Destremps in Pacifica, Jeff Bottjer in San Francisco, Dan Adkins in San Gabriel, Eric and Melanie Helms, Melanie in San Pablo, Mike Harges in Santa Monica, Leaf Tine in Stockton, Tony Kiser in stockton, Thom in Cunland, Ed Steever in Ventura, California, Jackie in Las Vegas, Nevada, Judy Echols in Aloha, Dale DuVall in Eugene, Robbin Palmer in Florence, Kevin Wilkinson in Gladstone, Kathy in Portland, Alex in Silverton, Oregon, Jay Laughlin, Kyle Barrett in Bellevue, Kerry Hufford in Edmonds, Jeff Nelson in Federal Way, Joel in Seattle, Scott Fischbach in Vashon, Washington, Curtis Weber in Wasilla, USA;

It is not just great to play didj with that many people, but the meditation is also a wonderful experience in itself and at least in our local meetings everyone really enjoys the experience and leaves feeling much more relaxed.
So if you have not yet participated in this regular event, please do give it a go at our next Worldwide Didgeridoo Meditation on the 23rd September at your local sunset time. We guarantee that you will enjoy it!
And if you have participated in the past, please join our global didj circle again.
In either case, please register and add your name to the map, so the next worldwide didgeridoo meditation on 23rd September can become even bigger then the last one, thank you.

Customer and Visitor Comments

Whenever you intend to buy something online you should check out the comments from previous customers and visitors.
We get plenty of those and are happy to share them with you.

First here are some of the many wonderful comments we got from our customers over the last few weeks:

• Daniel from Canada: "I could not ask for better service.  I will purchase from didjshop again.  As for the workmanship... it is phenomenal.  The paint work is truly amazing and the quality of the didj is elite."
• Arno from Netherlands: "I cannot say other than that you have proven excellent service. I have been continuously informed on order details and billing processing. Also good after sales (up to now as I have received the didge recently ;-)
  I would most certainly recommend this site to anyone interested in buying a didge. Keep up the good work!"
• Laura  from Italy: "You provide a very professional and fast service. About the workmanship, i'm not an expert, but i think that your Didjes are the best we can buy in italy for low prices. About my didj, i'm sure it is really well done."
• Gary Lockwood from USA: "The service has been outstanding. I could not have asked for better service. The workmanship is also outstanding and beautiful."
• Anonymous from Portugal: "Your service is stunning. Every time i had a doubt you gave me 100% good quality information."
• Bart  from Belgium: "I dealt now twice with you, and the service was always very friendly, fast and correct.  So I'll come back for more if I need some :)"

We are proud to announce that by now we have over eight hundred customers which have given us feedback on their Didjshop purchase and almost all of them are very happy customers indeed. Please feel free to check all customer feedback for yourself. If you have ever bought a Didjshop.com didj and have not yet answered our customer questionnaire, please do so for your chance of winning one of our three prize didgeridoos for 2009.

We also receive hundreds of comments from our website visitors and here are just a few recent tasters of those:

• Danny from Belgium: "The website is the most detailed and heart-loving didgeridoo site made from pure i-love-didjeridu-and-i-want-to-give-the-whole-world-a-chance-to-be-able-to-own-a-genuine-didjeridu feeling.  Keep up the good work you guys.. The great didgeridoo-spirit praises y'all"
• Darren from Australia: "I have bought all three of my didjes through your shop and have recommended you to all who show interest. Nothing more needs to be said. I will be back again and again"

• Mac from USA: "Nothing can really compare to selection here and care given to ensure the customer is given the best satisfaction. there are always so many didgeridoos to select from and i always find myself in the unusual shapes category. The website and customer satisfaction are second to none. I also really admire the ethics of the site and the attention given to making sure all the instruments are genuine artifacts."
• Eldor Karow from Germany: "It's great. Many information. And trust..."
• Anonymous from Canada: "By far the best! you are succeeding in making what i thought impossible possible! I never thought I would consider buying a didj without ever actually playing it. you succeed at this."
• Flemming from Denmark: "It's THE greatest didj site. Period."
• Gary Lockwood from USA: "Really this organization is the best. I had great customer service and will only buy from The Didjshop. Oh the website is easy to use and full of great information"

Again we publish all comments and you may look for yourself that just about all of our visitors give very positive feedback. You can check them out HERE.

And if you have not yet entered our 2009 didgeridoo competition, please fill out our 2009 questionnaire!

June, July and August Winners

June Winner

The winner of our June A$50 shopping voucher is Arianna Aceti from Bologna in Italy.

Arianna got her winning entry when she gave us feedback on her purchase from us.
Here is what Arianna told us about her Didjshop.com purchase: "Absolutely perfect,the didj was great. it has a high cultural and musical value, impossible to find anywhere else"
Thanks for your great feedback, Arianna and congratulations on your win.

July Winner

The lucky winner of our July $50 shopping voucher is Lacey Rumzek from Holt in USA.

Lacey commented this about Didjshop.com: "Def my fav"
and on imports of Aboriginal arts into Australia: "This is theft of their culture send it over seas to be made sold for a profit for cheap hurts. This is their way of supporting them selfs and very personal to them. we are lucky they share this with us!"
Thanks for your comments, Lacey and congratulations on your win, we are looking forward to hear from you soon...

August Winner

Congratulations to Xanthe Knox from Albion Park in New South Wales, Australia, who is the winner of our August draw for a $50 shopping voucher at Didjshop.com. Great to have an Ozzie winner again!

Here is Xanthe's comment on Didjshop.com: "This is an excellent website with great comprehensive information. The staff who I contacted were extremely helpful and courteous."
And this is his comment on imports of Aboriginal arts into Australia: "Aboriginal arts and crafts is an important part of the Aboriginal culture. By allowing cheap imports Australia as a nation is cheapening the importance of that culture and devaluing the important historical role of the Aboriginal people."
Well spoken, Xanthe and thanks for your kind words about our website.

Aboriginal News

Since it has been a while since our last Didjshop.com newsletter there are plenty of important and interesting Australian Aboriginal news:

• The United Nations had expressed concern over the suspension of the racial discrimination act and asked the Australian Government for a report on the re-instatement of the act by end of July. As regular readers would know the  previous Australian Government suspended the act when they started the intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory in mid 2007.
  In the Australian government report to the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination the government claims that it is currently consulting Aboriginal people in the prescribed areas about possible changes to the intervention and that it is considering paying "reasonable amounts of rent" to the traditional owners of the land.
  The Australian government has also made it clear that it will not comply with a UN recommendation that members of the stolen generation should be compensated. The UN also expressed concern about a lack of access to justice for Aboriginal people.  In fact the UN is so concerned about the lack of rights for Aboriginal people in Australia that they have sent professor James Anaya, UN special rapporteur on indigenous rights, to investigate the situation first hand. James Anaya was meant to meet Australian Aboriginal affairs minister Jenny Macklin on Groote Island in the Northern Territory. In an apparent snub to the UN, Jenny Macklin cancelled her meeting with James Anaya.
  We see this as a huge embarrassment for Kevin Rudd. If he meant anything when he said "sorry" to Aboriginal people, he should instruct his government to at least cooperate with the UN and follow these very basic recommendations of the UN.
  Under the previous government of John Howard we would have expected this snub, but coming from the new Labor government this is a worrying sign that saying "sorry" was just a formality and an election gimmick rather than a genuine apology for past wrong-doings and a commitment to a new beginning.
  While we welcomed that this government finally said 'sorry' for past wrongs done to Aboriginal people, we believe that this makes it even more unacceptable for the same government to continue denying Aboriginal people the most basic rights by insisting to continue the intervention and by refusing to reinstate the racial discrimination act. Actions speak stronger then words and this government is certainly missing in action...
• Another huge issue in the news is housing for Aboriginal people. As reported before the federal government has announced over 1 1/2 years ago that it will spend over 670 million dollars on Aboriginal housing in remote Arnhem land communities. Well while a good chunk of the money has been spent, not a single house has been built and now reports are coming in that only 300 of the planned 750 houses are likely to be built with that money. You do the math, but if I divide 670 million dollars by 300 houses, I get over two million dollars per house!
  Now one could build beautiful mansions with that sort of money, but this is not what is happening. Instead rumour has it that most of the money will go to non-indigenous contractors and administrators. It sounds like a huge rort to us.
  We also wish that federal Indigenous Affairs minister Jenny Macklin and her staff would understand some basics about Aboriginal culture. In the areas where these houses are to be built, there is a huge impediment to the houses ongoing usefulness (if they ever get built). If someone dies in a house in those Aboriginal communities, no other Aboriginal person will live in that house again. This was an essential and useful custom for thousands of generations to avoid the spread of disease. But this government seems to not be able to listen enough to learn about basic customs like this, which will make those two million dollar houses useless once the first person dies in them.
  We believe it would be much better for simple shelters to be built, which do not even need any walls. Kitchen and toilet facilities should be separate, so these valuable assets do not have to be abandoned if someone dies in one of the shelters.
• While Jenny Macklin dishes out hundreds of millions of taxpayers money to her white-fellow construction and administration buddies, she recently refused to give any funds to the Jack Thompson Foundation. This wonderful initiative by the famous Australian actor (Jack played the accountant in the movie 'Australia') is teaching Aboriginal people how to design and cheaply build their own houses using timber which they are taught to harvest and mill locally.
  So while hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted on houses which are not suited to Aboriginal people, no government money is forthcoming to support Aboriginal people being taught to build their own houses. And to make it very clear how un-willing the government is to listen to Aboriginal people, the consultation program of the government's housing initiative has been cut, officially to save costs. This is a slap in the face of Aboriginal people and this 'we know what you need' attitude is bound to fail again, as it has many times in the past. We fully agree with Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma's comment on cutting consultation: "We need to make sure we get appropriate style of housing in communities - not boxes out there that people don't want to live in - and just go through a process of expediency to get something up there when it's not going to be appropriate."
  We challenge Jenny Macklin to give only one million dollars (0.14% of their housing budget) to the Jack Thompson Foundation and we bet that over time this will create more houses then the 672 million government program will. Once Aboriginal people know how to build their own houses, they will not be dependant on government for hand-outs any more. Or does this government want to perpetuate Aboriginal dependence???
  Anyway since the government is not supporting the Jack Thompson Foundation, we wish to ask you to please make a donation to the foundation, especially anyone who makes any money from Aboriginal art or from didgeridoos. As mentioned before we do believe that anyone who makes any money from Aboriginal culture, should return some of their profits to Aboriginal causes. We do believe that even someone selling drilled-out or even PVC didjes makes his money thanks to Aboriginal people discovering this wonderful instrument, so it is only fair to give some of the profits back.
  The Jack Thompson Foundation is certainly a very worthwhile cause, so please do support them. Thank you.
  The foundation currently works with Arnhemland communities but has also been approached by Aboriginal communities in Western Australia.
• In the Aboriginal news section of our May newsletter, we reported on the Northern Territory "Care and Protection of Children Act" and its hideous requirement for everyone to report consensual sex between teenagers to the government authorities.
  We are pleased to announce that the Northern Territory government came under sufficient pressure and have just amended the act so health practitioners are now exempt from reporting sexual activity in adolescents aged 14 or 15 if the age difference between consenting partners is two years or less.
  While this is a good step in the right direction, it does not go far enough. It still leaves social and youth workers and even pharmacists as well as parents and everyone else in the untenable position to be legally forced to dob in any teenagers under 16 years of age for having consenting sex.
  The NT Minister for Children, Malarndirri McCarthy, claims that youth and social workers and teachers will now be consulted ahead of next year's review of the act. In our view this is too long to wait for the further changes which are clearly required and the delay is likely to have significant negative effects on the trust between those professions and young teenagers.
• The best news we recently heard of is talk of closing Uluru for climbers.
  Ever since white man came to Australia, people have climbed this most sacred icon of Aboriginal Australia. Initially people were unaware of the significance of their actions, but even when it became apparent how insulting the climb is to Aboriginal people, some tour companies continued to promote it out of fear of loosing customers. Politicians also could not find the guts to step in and acknowledge the wishes of Aboriginal elders that people should not climb the rock.
  The newly released draft management plan for the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park contains a recommendation to ban climbing Uluru for cultural and environmental reasons.
  Traditional owner Vince Forrester echoes what we have said before: "You can't go climb on top of the Vatican, you can't go climb on top of the Buddhist temples and so on and so forth. Obviously you have to respect our religious attachment to the land too, so we're saying please do not climb Uluru - we've said it in all languages."
  Currently about 2000 to 3000 people climb the rock every day, ignoring the wishes of traditional owners, and dozens have died on the climb. Out of personal experience I know how distressing the climbing and especially those death are to the Anangu. Yet some operators still refuse to even inform their tourist customers about the wishes of local Aboriginal people and continue to encourage the climb.
  After the release of the draft management plan, sadly both federal and state politicians have publicly come out supporting the right of tourists to climb Uluru, rather then the right of Traditional owners to have their culture respected.
  However Greens senator Bob Brown rightfully points out: "Remember the Indigenous people have handed back control of this park which is theirs and receded to them, in good faith. I think it's a breach of that faith to be continuing to say that people should be able to climb the rock even though in doing so they're climbing over the spiritual sensitivity of the local Indigenous people."
  Federal Environment minister and former rock star Peter Garrett will have to make a decision on the draft plan next year and we very much hope that he will be true to the songs which made him famous and that he will respect the wishes of Aboriginal people. Banning people from trampling over the most sacred of Aboriginal sites will be a very strong gesture towards reconciliation.

Please join the next Worldwide Didj Circle on 23th September at your local sunset time...

Keep on didjing until next month
from Svargo and the DIDJSHOP.COM team