Graham Wiggins

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Graham Wiggins (* 1962 in New York ; † 2016 ) was an American musician and composer . He played the didgeridoo , keyboard , melodica , sampler and various percussion instruments , which he played in the band Dr. Didg started. He was PhD in physics at St Cross College of Oxford University , where he also his nickname was when he in the laboratory buildingPracticed playing the didgeridoo. The percussive didgeridoo style he practiced influenced many didgeridoo players in the 1990s.

biography

Wiggins was in New York City , the son of British born parents and grew up there. Although his first musical instruments were the piano and horn , he taught himself to play the didgeridoo after seeing a performance on a cardboard tube as part of a world music concert in Boston . He graduated from Boston University in 1985 and moved to Oxford for postgraduate studies .

Here he performed as a street musician in order to earn money to earn a doctorate . In 1988 he founded the band Outback with guitarist Martin Cradick , which combined Australian sounds with modern music.

Before he graduated with his doctorate , he already had a recording deal . After the group broke up, he spent several months in Arnhem Land , Australia in 1992 , where he lived in the Aboriginal community near Galiwinku on Elcho Island (one of the Wessel Islands ) and studied the advanced traditional playing techniques of the area. With the exception of a few pieces such as Brolga , his compositions are not based on traditional Australian structures, but use the percussive, rhythmic and melodic potential of the didgeridoo.

In 1993 Wiggins founded the Dr. Didg . In 1994 he started experimenting with live sampling and loops , which became the basis of the Dr. Didg album Out Of The Woods .

After 15 years in Oxford, Wiggins moved back to Boston in the spring of 2000.

developments

In 1983 Wiggins developed a tunable version of the didgeridoo in the style of a valve instrument . After various prototypes made of cardboard, he made the version he later used with hardwood and brass with eight keys, which made it possible to play nine different tones. This instrument was first presented on British television on Tomorrows World and was used on various Dr.Didg titles, such as SubAqua on the CD Dust Devils and SunTan on the CD Out Of The Woods .

Discography

  • Outback: Outback , 1990
  • Outback: Dance The Devil Away , 1991
  • Dr. Didg: Out Of The Woods , 1993
  • Dr. Didg: Serotonality , 1998
  • Dr. Didg: Live Jams , 1999
  • Dr. Didg: Assorted , 2000
  • Graham Wiggins: Echoes Of The Past , 2000
  • Dr. Didg: Live Jams 2000 (2001)
  • Dr Didg: Dust Devils , 2002
  • Dr. Didg: This is your Brain , 2003

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wiggins, Graham
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician and composer
DATE OF BIRTH 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH 2016