artist: Alastair Black country of origin: Australia style(s): World music, Aboriginal, entno-ambient essential releases: Didgeridoo Dreaming (1992, Larrikin)

Alastair Black is one of Australia’s premier non-indigenous exponents of the didgeridoo, not only a talented performer of the instrument but a full-time didgeridoo teacher. His close affiliation with the Australian aboriginal people lends his playing dignity and depth and several of his mentors regard his work as helping to break down racial barriers. This CD release complies the best tracks from his second and third albums and is a must-have for indigenous music fans. To Western ears the didgeridoo may sound somewhat limited as a solo instrument but tracks in that vein like "Stalking" and "Morning Mist" are most visceral in their impact and few didge players can match Black's sense of colour and dynamics. The ensemble pieces are magnificent, combining the didge with flute, violin and wordless vocals and they make for some of the finest examples yet of world music incorporating indigenous Australian influences.

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