Dubravko Lapaine

Last night in “Stara Trešnja” Circus of Wind was performed by Dubravko Lapaine – our didgeridoo musician (?!), dancer of didgeridoo music (?!), actor (?!) of a monodrama of vibrations, poet (?!) with tubes, searcher of the meaning of our pre-beginnings, recorder of vibrations and poetry, creator of mandala by wind, acrobat of the wind….
I simply must admit I am still so impressed that I don’t know where to begin.

I cannot resist the need to express in words the entirety of this experience, although with words only it is simply not possible. Words are not a medium for telling these stories. When attending this performance, you need to bring your body and head emptied of everything. You need to have absolutely no expectations and be ready to accept what ever happens within the walls of the theatre.

After a very short time, you realize your brain is simply removed as a means for processing perceptions and the entire experience of the performance influence on your each of your senses individually, that you vibrate and through those vibrations receive information about the context of the stories from long ago, essence of the pre-beginning, and that you are no longer a being of the Earth, rather you are the earth itself. You breathe – you are the wind. You burn – you are fire. You vibrate – you are fear. You are the tube through which air travels – you are the didgeridoo and you vibrate in your own way.

This experience is so special, that it should not be missed. The next day you feel as if you exaggerated in the gym. You have slight muscle-ache because your whole body vibrated during the performance, each muscle on its own and each cell of the body by itself.

How this prehistoric (if that’s what it could be called at all) music affects the body, can best be seen on the performer. Agile like a wild cat, with a body that can do literally anything, with unbelievable control over the muscles of his torso… this performance was one of the best demonstrations of the beauty of the human body when carried by its owner through all sorts of actions, when it is beautiful in its natural self, when it is carried about with freedom of movement.

So my dear friends, if you would like to see how dances of the abdominal and back muscles look (yes, you read well – and back muscles), don't miss this performance. You won’t believe what a developed diaphragm could do.

This text is already long and I still didn’t go over one layer of this multilayered performance. Nothing was said about the poetry of the performance, the scenery, nothing about the images shown parallel on screen, nothing about the make-up, the design and its direct connection with life, nothing about the instruments and another thousand nothings. Basically, you will have to continue on your own. I tried to convey only a small part of the experience.
And you yourself must join this whirlwind …..Starting at www.lapaine.com
who knows where this story will take you.
duboko-more @ 10:42
- Nada Sostar, blog DUBOKO MORE - February 9, 2008

[...]Du, definitely one of the most prolific and amazing didgeridoo players in the world, creates an acoustic environment of different music instruments just by playing his didgeridoo[...] - Katja Ceglar, director of Kulturni dom Krsko

[...]Lapaine is a wizard who crams sounds of wind into three long, wooden wind instruments and modifies them at his will, forming them into subtle sound sculptures. It often reminds one of electronic effects, beats and diabolical samplers[...]
by: Horvi - Vladimir Horvat - GLAS.BA - Internet Music Magazine

...Next on stage was Dubravko Lapaine, a.k.a. Dudo, whose set was, undoubtedly, not only the best of the whole event, but also one of the best of all the festival's editions I attended.

His performance was extremely powerful, accurate and, above all, intense: very seldom I had seen a didgeplayer blend so nicely with his didgeridoo - so much, actually, that man and instrument seemed one thing. In all fairness, I don't know how much marketing-wise and studied Dudo's stage act may be (after knowing him personally, very little, I think). Anyway, his mere presence, his beard, the way he moves on stage and plays his didgeridoo leave you breathless, and he looks really impressive - almost an oracle, I dare say.
The kind of show proposed by Dudo was my favourite one, that is 'Didgeridoo Solo'; nevertheless, as Dudo himself (and Ondrej Smeykal) state, if played in a certain way a didgeridoo can become a whole orchestra.
During his 40-minutes long performance the Croatian musician played two tracks included in his 'From The Depths Of The Disconscious' cd and seven previously unreleased tunes, which will be part of his forthcoming new cd.

Before the festival, I had had the chance to listen to some of Dudo's tracks taken from several sources (his site, the 'Yidaki Compilation' cd, MySpace et al.), and I was surprised in finding out how much better the live renditions of those tracks did sound. Maybe this was partially due to the relatively poor sound quality of the tracks available on the web. But, most of all, I think this was due to the huge progress Dudo made since the release of his first cd in 2007.
Dudo plays didgeridoos he himself built. As many of you maybe already know, their main peculiarity is their being very long, from 2 up to 10 metres. The longest didgeridoo he played on this particular occasion was 5.3 metres (18 foot approx.), and its sound seemed to come from the depths of an abyss. Listening to it coming out of the theatre's PA, I had the same feeling I had hearing the roar of the Balrog of Morgoth when it comes out of the deep mines of Moria in J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Lord Of The Rings'.
You may find further information about his deep-instruments at http://www.lapaine.com/experimentalni-en.php
No wonder that at the end of Dudo's set the audience gave him a well-deserved standing ovation!
author:Jack Azzara - yidakipedia.com

I upravo je sviranje didgeridooa mozda najvise razdragalo to raznovrsno mnostvo ljubitelja Australije i njene izvorne glazbe u SC-u. Ono sto je na toj "obicnoj dugackoj drvenoj cijevi" uspio odsvirati DUbravko Lapaine u nekoliko solo tocaka, zaradivsi, kako bi to rekli u kazalistu, pljesak na otvorenoj sceni, zaista je neprevodivo u rijeci i zaista ne zacudjuje sto upuceniji kazu da je Dubravko pravi guru didgeridooa!
...I iz jedne obicne dugacke cijevi oblikovati duboku i ritmicnu glazbu koja zvuci kao da je izvodi cijeli orkestar - onako kako to znaju samo pravi majstori i posvecenici svojih glazbala, ma kako se ona zvala i ma iz koje kulture dolazila.
tekst:Ksenija Erceg - Matica / veljaca, 2007

On the sleeve notes of his latest tuition CD Jeremy Cloake mentions the fact that many Yolngu people view contemporary non-aboriginal didgeridoo playing as like a 'passing breeze', something that doesn't really touch you.
Well those inhabitants of Northern Australia have never heard the didgeridoo playing of Dubravko Lapaine.
From the instant he starts to introduce his first 'song' the audience is taken on a magical journey; captivated by the character of his voice, the stunning imagery of his poetry, the aura of his stage presence and then the first sounds that emanate through his long 'tubes'.

It must be said that Dubravko is certainly a musician who needs to be heard live.
The quality and depth of his sound, the virtuosity of his technique, the intricacies of his rhythms cry out for a live festival setting.
(Listening to a cd of Dubravko is like watching a John Ford western on a small television.)
His performance at the DidgHeadRadio Festival 2008 created an unprecedented response from the particularly knowledgeable listeners who immediately recognised his authenticity and commitment to his art.

Any festival booking agent who is looking to introduce a unique and stunning addition to their line-up should consider the performance art of Dubravko Lapaine. - Gerry Priddle, owner and DJ of DidgHeadRadio.co.uk

(english translation)
All those who attended Sunday's two concerts that were part of the "Nebo" world music festival, simply could not hide their enthusiasm, and exited the Student's Center richer for one nice musical experience. Both performances reached the very depth of performing arts. Unlike Keita, who spread his smile over the marimba, Dubravko Lapaine blew his mystics through the didgeridoo. Lapaine, Croatia's didgeridoo master, was suggestive, telling in a unique way, his story of "releasing himself from a box" – a path in which his soul releases from the material boundaries and from the walls put up by the mind. Half of Lapaine's torso was painted white, and half was black, underlying the separation that pulled through the whole performance in which he played about ten didgeridoos that differed in looks and sound. Each had its own color, its own part, and it is just unbelievable what Lapaine can extract from these tube-like instruments of murmuring sounds. Whisper, escape, scream, green, blue, universe, ground, fire, water… [B. Trkulja]

(hrvatski)
Svi koji su u nedjelju prisustvovali dvama koncertima u sklopu 7. festivala svjetske glazbe »Nebo«
jednostavno nisu mogli skriti svoje odusevljenje, a i iz Studentskoga centra su otisli bogatiji za jedno lijepo iskustvo glazbe. Oba nastupa dosegnula su su prema samom iskonu svirackoga umijeca... Za razliku od Keitaa koji je širio svoj osmijeh po marimbi, Dubravko Lapainea je upuhivao svoju mistiku u didgeridoo. Lapaine, hrvatski majstor didgeridooa, bio je sugestivan ispricavsi na upecatljiv nacin pricu o »izlasku iz kutije« - putu na kojem se duh oslobadja iz omedjenosti materijom i ograda koje si postavlja um. Pola torza Lapaine je obijelio, a pola je namazao u crno, podcrtavši tako pricu o podijeljenosti koja se provlacila kroz cijeli nastup tijekom kojeg je svirao desetak, i izgledom i zvukom razlicitih didgeridooa. Svaki od njih ima svoju boju, svaki svoju tocku, a upravo je nevjerojatno što
Lapaine iz tih cjevastih instrumenata dubokoga mrmorecega zvuka uspijeva izvuci. Sapat, bijeg, krik, zeleno, plavo, svemir, zemlja, vatra, voda.... [B. Trkulja] - Vjesnik, 7 i 8. 10. 2008.