Djalu Gurruwiwi making the best ever yidaki!

Djalu still has it, still passionate about yidaki, still has the energy to cut and painstakingly craft yidaki. He spent several hours looking for the tree from which this yidaki was honed, then more hours crafting it starting early in the morning and finishing in the afternoon. First Djalu uses a machete to slice bark, sapwood and a bit of heartwood off the log, then a different hand tool (can't remember what it is called) to shave more heartwood off and to give the instrument a bit of shape. At a ripe old age of over 70 years old (he was born before WW2 that much we can be sure of), doing this sort of work would exhaust anyone half his age but he keeps on going marrkapmirr manyi.
Then the machinery came in, initially a planer to shave more wood, and then an angle-grinder to smooth and shape the instrument some more. Djalu doesn't use the planer very often, actually, I can't remember him using it before but maybe that's just my memory.
Notice how every so often, Djalu tests the instrument before working on it some more. The key here is balance, both acoustic balance and weight balance of the yidaki, the two are interlinked and getting the right balance in the physical construction and make-up of the stick results in balance in its acoustics.
The log itself was huge, but surprisingly light for its size. The bore was already perfect and the walls relatively thin, this is the sort of yidaki that is already in the tree and all that is required is to "free" it to bring it to life.
I can't remember when I played a yidaki like that, having handled literally thousands of instruments in all parts of Arnhem Land, nothing quite compares to this. Best ever? Hard to say, but definitely top 5, and as far as I can remember, the best yidaki I have had from Djalu.
I'll upload a second video later that continues with Djalu crafting this stick, then Dopiya painting it, and finally Vernon playing this superlative yidaki. I love how Vernon plays the raw stick at the start of this clip. Just wait and listen to him in the next clip!