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Music from Charlie McMahon: TJILATJILA With the album, TJILATJILA, didjeridu player CHARLIE McMAHON, has again expanded the musical range of the didjeridu. He has combined the slow steady pulse of the didjeridu drone with some original didjeridu blowing techniques, to produce superbly evocative music. You may think you’re hearing some type of giant pan pipe when hearing the “owl like” hoots on the opening track PLATEAU, but the sounds are generated by “didj horns”. (As the informative cover notes explain.)

With Seven albums, CHARLIE McMAHON has developed the expertise on the didjeridu equal to the task of making this, his “didj album”. The accompanying string and piano arrangements flow effortlessly with the didj rhythm & the “vocal chant that hums with the drone”. This time around Charlie has been able to do more with less backing by other instruments. By choosing acoustic players he succeeds in giving the environmental inspired tunes the warmth and clarity necessary to create the dreamy laid back mood intended for TJILATJILA. From the uplifting sweep of PLATEAU, to the stark remoteness of SANDY BLIGHT JUNCTION, the TJILATJILA tunes reveal that where many see a "dead heart”, McMAHON finds his soul food in the inland deserts he knows so well from his bore
drilling days.

Finding a genre slot for CHARLIE McMAHON’s music has never been easy. TJILATJILA is dreamy, but too earthy and spontaneous to wear a Trance or New Age tag. If making an indigenous or place specific sound defines World Music, then TJILATJILA calls Australia home. Just as the steel drum takes you to the Caribbean, and the sitar & tabla take you to India, the didjeridu evokes a sparely inhabited land where space defies time.

Other music by Charlie McMahon
 

Gondwana: Bone Man

“As an album, Bone Man pretty much sums up the whole business of didgeridoo playing, in whatever way, shape or form.” Michael Smith. ‘The Drum Media’. 22/4/03

“The didgeridoo is both dynamic and sensual. A captivating hybrid of percussion, drum machines & synthesized lyrics. It is a distinctly Australian world music album. (3 1/2 stars)” Chloe Sasson. ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’. 17/4/03


Gondwana: xenophon

“Hypnotic, trancy beats that rise and fall with knowing intensity are complemented by pulsing rhythms and beautifully controlled didj textures. The album is deeply infused with low bass and dub sounds, but it’s the unique indigenous instruments and excerpts of vocalizing that imbue Xenophon with such unusual flavour. Understated brilliance. Lauren Zoric. ‘Rolling Stone’. September 1998

“Australian INDIGENOUS meets ambient dance with stunning results.”
Simon Woodridge. ‘Juice’. September 1998

“Didjeridu maestro Charlie McMahon surprises everyone with an album that is one of the most accomplished electronic records that this land has ever produced. Full of noises from Charlie’s mouth, the songs structure themselves around ideas, motifs and moods. 9/10” Geoff Towner. ‘Revolver’. 23 July 1998


Gondwana: Travelling Songs

This should open your ears.. .Charlie’s didj playing is superb as are the vocals from Bobby Bunuggurr. Graham Radley-NETRYTHMS UK Surnmer-2004

Charlie McMahon is releasing albums of blistering didj music featuring everything from acid jazz to trance, pulsating dance music & ambient. McMahon is joined by Arnhem Land singer Bobby Bunuggurr on four tracks. The result is songs of such remarkable visual intensity such as Heat. (3 1/2 stars) Bruce Elder. Sydney Morning Herald. Jan 7-13, 2005


Charlie McMahon: Tjilatjila

After a couple of listenings, I’m wishing that the ten tracks of Tjilatjila (“steady and gentle movement”), were twice as long as this CD lives up to its name.
SGW Sing Out Magazine., Summer 2002

Gondwanaland: Terra Incognita “Some of the rhythms heard for the first time here, can now almost be regarded as a kind of benchmark. The rhythms Emu, Drought and Morning for example are probably known to every didge player — they have become part of the contemporary repertoire. It is surprising how often these beats have been reproduced (also by big name didge players) without reference being made to their origin. They have even turned up on some CDs as so-called ‘authentic traditional Dreamtime songs’, but they’re all original rhythms by Charlie McMahon. Given the importance of the didge in modern and popular music, this album actually belongs in every collection. This Gondwanaland release is certainly one of the most important genre CDs — of almost historic weight.” Thorsten Redler. Didgeridoo & Co Magazine. Oct-Nov-Dec 2004

CDs, Video, cassettes for sale -

• Gondwana: Bone Man (2002)  CD.
• Gondwana: xenophon (1998) CD.
• Charlie McMahon: Tjilatjila (1995) CD & cassette.
• Charlie McMahon & Gondwana: Travelling Songs (1994) CD
• Gondwanaland: Wide Skies (1991) CD
• Gondwanaland: Let The Dog Out (1987) CD
• Gondwanaland: Terra Incognita (1983)
• Didjeridu - An Arnhem Land Journey  (NTSC or PAL)

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