love this podcast, can be heard or downloaded at link
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/verbatim/stories/2010/2913639.htm
Herb Patten
Herb Patten was born in 1943 and spent his early years in a small town called Numeralla, near Orbost, in south-east Victoria. Part of the Ganai-Kurnai tribes of the Gippsland area, Herb is also descended from the Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri groups from the surrounding country. But, as Herb says, his surname has German origins, and perhaps it's this rich cultural mix which led him towards a life in music, and more particularly, to the special art of gumleaf playing.
Herb taught himself to play the leaf when he was about eight, after hearing his great-uncle blowing a leaf in the bush near where the family lived. Since then, Herb has become a skilled and passionate exponent of this form of music. With academic Robin Ryan and others, he has also researched and written about the history of gumleaf playing in Australia.
In this interview Herb talks about his years growing up among his extended Aboriginal family, the role that music has played throughout his life, and the art and skill of blowing a gumleaf.
Visit Australia Ad Lib, an interactive guide to the wild, the weird and the vernacular in Australian music.
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