IN-DIDG-INUS-DOOS

MY TRIP TO SFINKS Sfinksbeeld 2004

If you have read the page entitled, Pieter and Brian's Trip To Hull on INDIDGINUSDOOS then you will know that my European family of fellow didjeridu enthusiast friends has been growing steadily for a while and that this was my most recent encounter with fellow players from the continent.

Whilst they were here, Pieter told me of a festival he was going to when he went back to Belgium. So I looked it up on the Internet and decided to meet up with Pieter there,

It had been some time since I had had a break and also been a lot of years since I had learned anything new as a player so I was looking forward to SFINKS.

I arranged everything here with the fine precision it needed and I had everything set when two days before I am due to leave I get an urgent message from Pieter �I Have to go to hospital it doesn�t look good�.

It turned out that Pieter had appendicitis and when the hospital operated complications occurred so needless to say he wasn�t going to be in a fit state to go anywhere for some time.

I tried to cancel my ticket on the ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge and was told no problem if I wanted to lose �233. So being of true Scottish blood I thought NO WAY

So next day I packed a huge backpack that could�ve sunk the ferry but I managed to struggle aboard and also took two of my favourite Wugularr didjeridu�s a tent and all camping equipment a mini disc and digital video camera and much too much stuff.

So Got to my cabin relieved and threw off all my clutter.

Soon I'd had, a shower and was sitting down to an Exquisite three-course meal and a bottle of very nice Riocha whilst sailing the North Sea for Belgium.

After a good nights sleep I departed the ferry and STRUGGLED aboard a coach to the rail station where I then struggled some more onto Antwerp, then found the train I needed to Boechout and left the train to a vision of the SFINKS CAF�. Ah great, that�s close enough I thought as I approached the locked door. Mmm, I pondered my options, so I had the address of the scout field workshop campsite so that was my next move. I stopped a couple of strangers and after a little language difficulties ( all from me ) I realised that the campsite was not in Boechout as I had presumed but in Hove So another Trek with a lot of weight then followed.

I reached the campsite after much searching in the wrong places absolutely shattered and collapsed on the grass for some recovery time. I then realised I was there alone and thought to myself ok I'm early, although the site did look a little deserted.

I pitched my tent and hid it behind a hut out of sight, it then poured with rain for a few hours so I got my head down for a bit of shuteye.

I woke around 5 and decided my next plan of action was to go to Sfinks caf� again so I set off walking with my didj�s expecting to see lots of others at the caf� with didjeridu�s but I got there and there was a very helpful barman who thought I was speaking aboriginal to him, but tried to give me good advice and hand signals, and after a very nice Belgian beer (the first of many this week) I left heading for my tent.

I was overjoyed to see another tent being erected by a very good friend now Remy,

He explained that he would show me in the morning where to go and get tickets for the workshops so we settled down that evening and next day we headed off to sign up.Charlie plays wood

Got to the school and signed up got my lunch vouchers and booked my festival ticket for the weekend world music festival. Cool I then settled into group 4 the advanced group and was informed our first workshop would be with Michael Jackson and we went to class. Suddenly we were practicing the most amazing rhythms I�ve ever played and at the same time learning the arrangement of a didj swing track

Have I bitten off more than I can chew here in group 4, I wondered, but Michael and indeed all the 4 teachers showed very good teaching styles, and amazing patience Throughout the week. We learned more and more as the week went on MICHAEL JACKSON (MON), MARK ATKINS (TUE), CHARLIE McMAHON(WED) AND MIKE EDWARDS on THURSDAY. Each night we practiced on the campsite too, so we were easily playing around 8 hrs a day (5 or 6 at the workshops and a couple or more in the evening). On Tue evening we headed off to Sfinks cafe for a gig by the teachers YEAH WHAT A NIGHT

By the time Thursday evening came we knew that the next day we had a demonstration to give and on Saturday, some of us would play with Charlie McMahon at the Sfinks festival on Sat night.

However at the camp Matt (osmosis) from Aus turned up and jurgen so we had a long chat and one or two beers (AND MAYBE ONE MORE) and decided to go to the opening night festival and market. So around 11.30pm we set off.

We got there and went for a stroll round the amazing market wow so many things everywhere I didn�t know where to look next . Then some African Djembe players asked us to play some didj for them to drum to. Matt duly obliged and the guys just watched in amazement when he finished they all clapped for about ten minutes and one said �If I Play like that I be DEAD�. We then went to the festival WOW what a place Stages and tents everywhere so we had some more beer and met up with Stephan and Selina and some others from the didj workshop groups . We then left together around two in the morning but sat down outside the festival by the food trucks, There we started a game of pass the didj where we all played a solo and passed the didj to the next player there were around 6 or 7 of us playing and another 3 or 4 who were with us as observers. Soon a crowd gathered and we played on till the very early hours when we remembered we still had another workshop to do in the morning and a demonstration so we set off for the campsite.

At the subway we stopped again as Matt wanted to play some and within seconds the subway was full to bursting with people trying to see and hear, a few tracks were played and we continued to the campsite.

The next day was FRIDAY the last day of the workshops and we split into open groups. All four groups had a demonstration to give to the other students, teachers and onlookers.

I then went off with Charlie McMahon�s group to work on a piece to perform at the Sfinks festival with Charlie on Saturday and Sunday evening.

After the workshops Remy and myself set off back to the camping ground, we took a short cut through the park and stopped to play some didj, I played for a while and Remy talked with a girl who had stopped to listen,

When I stopped playing and got ready to leave she offered us a lift to the site so we accepted and packed the didgeridoos, shopping and didgeribone�s in the car.

Off we sped and in the back I had limited vision of the road but I did manage to catch a glimpse off a no entry barrier as we sped past it we then had to take to the cycle path to let other traffic through and then we sped on for the other end of this one way trap ,

Oops three Policemen at the other side screaming at the girl to stop so a ticket and fine later we were unpacking the car and heading off walking again.

We arrived at the campsite and Remy discovered in all the confusion we had left his didgeribone in the trunk of the car , Oops he needed it to play the horn section with Charlie at the festival tomorrow night so the rest of the evening was taken up with trying to borrow a bone . Oh and Pieter turned up What a surprise although I have to say he didn�t look well at all, I stayed with him that evening as some of the others were going to the festival, The next morning a letter from Pieter outside my tent �I had to go home didn�t feel very well� and I thought Sensible guy Best place for him to recover.

The next day arrived and we had a bone but the mouthpiece had been chewed by rats (That�s another story) and was unplayable, so I just happened to have with me two free samples of the new silicone didgeridoo mouthpiece that I had been kindly sent by DIDGERIDOO AND Co MAGAZINE. AH I thought So we trundled back into town to the supermarket and bought some good contact adhesive then we walked back and trimmed the rat eaten mouthpiece flat with a scalpel and glued the silicone mouthpiece to the rubber .

When it was dry it played like a dream and much more comfortable to play than the original rubber. So the mouthpieces, which had started off as a bit of a joke at the beginning of the week as I took them round to show people (Won�t tell you what people thought they were) ended up saving the day for Remy from Holland.

And after a few wise cracks from everyone initially I think that the Idea was a roaring success

We had a great time at the Festival Charlie had arranged back stage passes for us all so we were treated like VIPs the whole day We played to an enthusiastic crowd at 11.30pm and then retired to the backstage area to quench a thirst (again)

That night I returned in the wee small hours to my tent and awoke to my friend Pieter who had returned to give me a lift back to the ferry at Zeebrugge WHAT A STAR.

He looked much better too which was a relief Hope the recovery continues, I told him he was banned from didj for a month and then limit himself to only one toot at a time each month until he can hit 8 toots again lol

Well that was a very brief version of my adventure to Sfinks and I would recommend it to anyone I�ll see you all there next year A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL MY NEW EUROPEAN FAMILY FOR THE WEEK OF MY LIFE and to Mark Atkins for many hours of chats in the pub, and to Peiter for everything And Remy for everything to Dennis and Joyce to Tys and his girlfriend, to jurgen and melle , to Celinda and Stephan and Conny to and thousands more people ......thanx .. I hope to have some video clips in the documents page soon

See you all next year I hope, Regards and Respect, Steve Wright (yidakisteve). All the pics can be seen in full in the sfinks photo album. Thanks for the pics Roland,

All pics copyright Roland Mathijssen DIDGEWEB

CLASS 2004