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  • 豪キャブラリー：Didgeridoo

    A didgeridoo is musical instrument created and used by indigenous Australians. Didgeridoos are shaped from hollow tree branches and can be up to 3 metres long. They’re called by many names depending on the tribes that used them. Perhaps the best-known indigenous Australian term for the instrument is the yidaki. Japanese musicians are among the world’s best players of the didgeridoo. 　ディジュリドゥは、オーストラリア先住民が作り、演奏してきた楽器。中が空洞になった木の枝を使い、長さは3メートルにもなることがある。部族ごとに呼び名はいろいろあるが、先住民の言葉で最もよく知られている名称のひとつが『イダキ』だ。ちなみに、ディジュリドゥの演奏技術は日本人ミュージシャンが世界でもトップクラスと言われている。 Tets-J Doing a Dinkum Bewdy of a Job Spreading Indigenous Aussie Culture in Japan | 考えRoo Tets-J Official Site Jibucon Dinkum Japan

  • Spring in the Step

    This has been a strange kind of week. Meetings kicked off the week, continued throughout and were punctuated by work and lots of cycling and photography. Oh, yeah. And looking after the pet dinosaur. Amid that, feelings went up and down. Mostly down. Now, as the working week draws to a close, it feels like things are getting better. The next couple of weeks are going to be demanding. The next few months even more so, actually. But for today, things are comparatively calm. And that contentment has put a spring in the step, appropriate considering the season.

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    豪のクリスマス・ソング：Six White Boomers

    オーストラリア風のクリスマス・ソングの中では「Six White Boomers」が伝説的な存在となっているかもしれない。 　理由が多数ある。 　まずは、1960年にリリースされたので恐らく初めて広く知られたオーストラリア風のクリスマス・ソング。 　そして、歌ったのはロルフ・ハリス氏という多彩なパフォーマーだった。今でも82歳にもなっている同氏がイギリスでは「典型的なオージー」を思い浮かばせるだろう。 　同氏がオーストラリア・イギリスを始め、広く・深く・長く愛されている。歌だけでなく、絵も上等、話術も最高だし、漫画もすぐる手入るし、少年時代では水泳チャンピオンだったハリス氏。 　この曲はサンタがオーストラリアにやってきた時にはトナカイの代わりにカンガルーの力でゾリを動かしたという話だ。 　曲にでるブーマーは「熟成している雄カンガルー」という意味だ。 SIX WHITE BOOMERS Early on one Christmas Day, a Joey Kanga-roo, Was far from home and lost in a great big zoo. Mummy, where’s my mummy? They’ve taken her a-way. We’ll help you find your mummy, son. Hop up on the sleigh. Up beside the bag of toys little Joey hopped, But they hadn’t gone far when Santa stopped. Unharnessed all the reindeer and Joey wondered why, Then he heard a far off booming in the sky. Six white boomers, snow white boomers, Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun. Six white boomers, snow white boomers, On his Australian run. Pretty…

  • Rav-AGE!

    Getting old is not much fun, nor, as the late, great thespian Bette Davis once famously said, it’s not for sissies. But I’ve becoming increasingly conscious of age over the past few weeks. My eyesight is going: quickly and rapidly. I’m seeing less in the dark and rain, vision is cloudy and peripheral vision untrustworthy. Arthritis in my hands is making even the most minor of tasks a tough one. And my professional life, such as it is, is slipping from disaster to disaster. All these things are adding up to fill me with fear and trepidation, which has become paralyzing, and even worse, kept me away from one of…