Kids experience Didgeridoo Down Under

Raihan Alam of Didgeridoo Down Under brought music and fun from the far side of the world to the Aiken County Public Library Wednesday.

Didgeridoo Down Under was the first afternoon program for the Summer Reading Program and, over the course of two presentations, attracted about 100 children to the library's meeting room. Alam played the titular wind instrument the didgeridoo, played the drums, shared information about Australia with the crowd, and even brought some scaly friends along to visit.

"Australia is the world's largest island. It's so big it's actually its own continent," Alam told the crowd. "It's in the southern half of the Southern Hemisphere, and it has opposite seasons from us. We're just starting summer here, and they're just starting winter. It's so far away it's already tomorrow in Australia, and on a plane it would take 20 hours to get there, that's without even stopping."

He explained about the didgeridoo, a wind instrument without a reed tuner, made from logs hollowed out by termites.

He and a handful of volunteers played some quick rhythms, and he demonstrated how the Australian aborigines have developed a language of sounds for the instrument to represent the sounds of nature, such as the sizzle of rising heat, the flow of water, the bark of dingoes and the crazy call of the kookaburra.

Alam also told the children about the history of the Australian aborigines and their poor treatment at the hands of later European immigrants. This opened the door to talking about cooperation, diversity and empathy.

"The differences among us are things we should really celebrate. Be excited, not afraid, when you see someone different from you. Be curious because they might have something really great to teach you," he said.

To close the show, Alam brought out some animals - stuffed and real - that can be found in Australia: a koala and a platypus (plush toy variety), a blue-tongued skink and a python (real; Alam's family pets).

The Summer Reading Program continues with a teen Xbox game-playing program at 4 p.m. today, and a "Where the Sidewalk Ends" program at 7 p.m. Tuesday with popsicles, bubbles and sidewalk chalk in the back parking lot by the elevator entrance.

For more information about the Summer Reading Program, call the Aiken County Public Library at 642-2020, or visit www.abbe-lib.org.

Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.