Hullo, Bob,

Thanks for the clarification on Yothu Yindi (yes, it is "u", I checked the cd) and the chuckle about the poster; quite a band you'd got there, by the sounds of it!

I, too, would enjoy a copy of your bit about bush instruments. I'm eager to try out a piece of quaking asp, what we usually refer to as aspen tree, to make a lagerphone out of. My daughter cut it, peeled it, and carved a bit of a tall walking stick for me. I think it might work really well. I'll have to make Rog switch from aluminum cans of beer though!

To all: While I haven't been following this complete thread, I guess to each his own. Nothing makes me happier, sometimes, than to put on one of my favourite Native American drumming tapes, and play along on my own drum. Also, to Antiguan music my son-in-law gave me, to a middle eastern tape of dumbek drumming, Irish bodhran(sp?)or to taiko drums of Japan. Personally, I don't care too much where the influence comes from, as much as what I feel in my heart when I hear it. My heart, as some American Indians say, is "red", although I can only claim a small amount of NA blood from a gggrandmother. But, mixed in there, just as much, is the love I have for Scottish, Irish, and English traditional music and almost any other ethnic/traditional music I hear; they all have a beat, which to me and some of them, represents the heartbeat of Mother Earth, and that is what sings to me.

Katlaughing