G'day Bob Jovi,

Most of the 'Irish Bouzoukis' I see here in Australia seem have to have four courses ,in unison. Bodies are vriously pear-shaped or guitar shaped, often quite like the jazz guitar style with cutaway treble side and this would make f-holes quite logical. None of them look much like a real (turko-)Greek bouzouki, really just a variant of the ud or oud (but aren't all guitars, mandolins and particularly lutes (al ud)?).

The didgeridoo (Australian Oxford spelling)is interesting with Irish or Scottish music. I heard Dougie McLean some years back when he first picked up the didge and he sounded bloody good then! Some years back I did a display workshop on simple rhythm (lagerphone, Barcoo dog, bones &c) for the Australian Museum and, in the concert, there was a performance by an Irish couple with replicas of Irish bronze age 'horns' which appear never to have had mouthpieces. They claimed that the technique was probably the same as didge and played their interpretations of old Irish tunes in that style.

... who knows?

regards,

Bob Bolton.