The Didgeridoo Man of Balboa Park

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When I went down to San Diego for my niece's graduation, I had a chance to visit Balboa Park with my daughter and her family. The park is a beautiful place, and there are always lots of street musicians performing there. My grandson is fascinated by seeing people making music. He would have stayed all day watching the violin player near the Botanical Garden Building. I think the best part though, was when we stopped to listen to a man playing a an ancient, indigenous Australian instrument, the didgeridoo. The instrument itself was amazing. It featured a carved snake crawling up it. The musician is an American man, Mitchell Augustus Walker, who did not begin playing the didgeridoo until he was fifty years old. He has been a San Diego resident since 1971. He says that he learned the circular breathing technique that is used to play the instrument in about three weeks, since then he has been steadily increasing his skills. Although he uses a mic and some reverb pedals, he does not use any recordings, all of the music is created live. You can often find him creating these mystical sounds at Balboa Park. Check out this YouTube video of the same didgeridoo guy that we watched: