Dubravko Lapaine

Dubravko Lapaine is a Croatian-based didgeridoo musician and composer – one of the most revered didgeridoo performers in the world.
He has been coherently developing new ways of playing and thus starting free sound chronicles of anti-dogmatic and authentic sound that defies easy genre categorization. New definitions and fusion genres are needed to trace Lapaine’s music – ancient trance, meditative experimental, power ambient, storytelling instrumental, ethereal Balkan minimalism, polyrhythmic acoustic chillout, earth&cosmic beat, heavy melodic drone, solo orchestral, spiritual space metal…

Whatever the genre or style, the signature element in Lapaine’s compositions is clear acoustic contrasts and dualities. On one side detonations of breath and demonic intensity, rumbling earth drone, crushing cosmic machines… on the other side tiny echos whispering subtle melodies, angelic harp voices, airy and feathery pulses, singing reverberations of the tube…

Lapaine has been devoted to strict technical training and an uncompromising search for the pinpoint precision of sound. This has resulted in wild-fast hyper-detailed and extremely physical, raw, and tight didgeridoo instrumental, but at the same time progressively emphasizing the melodic and subtle side of the instrument.

Innumerable breaths of perfect precision and speed are counterbalanced by a melodious voice. This creates a sense of vast space and pulsing density in organic harmony. Movements of breath, diaphragm, voice, and lips blend in the didgeridoo into a strange invisible, and powerful earth music orchestra. The music he produces out of various ‘wooden tubes’ seems to the listener as if coming from a deep unknown spring letting us catch subtle melodies of wind intertwined with the rhythmic rumbling of the earth.

It is really with the live stage performance that Du’s devotion to music comes to full expression. During his intense musical performances wrapped up with spoken stories of abstract but poetic worlds, the audience is invited to take a step out of the ordinary and float into the vast spaces of inner cosmic freedom full of deep echoes and images.

Dubravko is also actively working with a trio Druyd featuring didgeridoo, guitar, and female vocals. He has released a range of audio works (solo albums, tracks for films and animations, music for theatre and dance performances) and received an international musical award (World of Music Awards 2009-finalist).

The Didge Talk

The Didge Talk goes into aspects of the didgeridoo phenomenon that are less known to mankind than the bottom of the ocean. It is a blend of philosophy with didgeridoo playing examples that are to inspire, open new doors of perception, and give an experience of something that one might never be able to play in their own body. There might be a stupid joke or two.

The Micro-Master-Class

The MicroMasterClass is based upon the Big Masterclass that happens every year in Croatia and people from all over the world come to be tortured by didgeridoo playing. The class consists of basic exercises that build the fundamentals of playing and form a well-thought-out system. Though it seems trivial and obvious, exercises are something a regular player has never thought of and are not that easy to execute well. The exact set of exercises will be tailored according to the group with the goal of reaching the next level for each participant.

NOTABLE PAST EVENTS

*FATT festival 2017,2015,2010, Portugal
*Neuchâtel Buskers Festival 2013, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
*Lent Festival 2011, Slovenia
*Journées des 5 Continents 2013,2014 Martigny, Switzerland
*Lost Theory Festival 2011, Chillout Stage, Deringaj, Croatia
*Opening ceremony of the World Handball Championship in Split, Croatia (January 2009)
*Le Reve de Aborigenes Festival in Airvault, France (July 2009, 2013, 2016)
*RhythmTree Festival on Isle of Wight, UK (August 2009, 2010)
*Swiss Didge Weekend in Wiedlisbach, Switzerland (July 2009)
*Opening ceremony of Dubrovnik Summer Games @ Dubrovnik, Croatia (July 2008)
*Didjin’Oz 2008 in Forlimpopoli, Italy (November 2008, 2010, 2014)
*Didgeridoo/acrobatic show @ 4th Festival of New Circus, Zagreb (2007)

DISCOGRAPHY

VIBRAPULS – Latest solo album, July 2015.
http://music.lapaine.com/album/vibrapuls

DUBOKOBUD – Album released in January 2011.
http://music.lapaine.com/album/dubokobud

KOSMOPTERIX – Album released in July 2009.
Rated second best Croatian ethno album 1n 2009 (Croatian Internet Music Magazine glas.ba) http://music.lapaine.com/album/kosmopterix

IZ DUBINA BESVJESNIH – First self-released, arranged and produced album in 2008.

DRONAS / by Druyd – Album released in July 2010.
Debut album of Druyd, didgeridoo-guitar-female vocals trio.
http://music.druydmusic.com/album/dronas