Travels with Charlie

Playing woodwind instruments has long been shown to assist those with asthma; now playing the didgeridoo is also found to help

I first met Charlie McMahon in Australia’s bicentennial year when he played at a dinner I was hosting. Charlie is a “whitefella” who, ironically, lived most of his early life around Blacktown in New South Wales. His virtuosity on the didgeridoo gained him international attention both playing with his own band, Gondwanaland, and with Midnight Oil in the 1980s and 1990s. After the dinner, a memorable moment was captured when he was jamming with Galarrwuy Yunupingu — two didgeridoo exponents at the height of their musical powers.