Travelling back in time
Around the start of the millennium, Hans Karssen followed his heart and a love of music to discover a new passion – an instrument that originated in the Northern Aboriginal Tribes of Australia. While everyday modern life passed by like a high-speed train, Hans travelled back in time to find this apparently simple instrument, which in turn, brought tremendous value to his life, both physically as well as spiritually.
As a true traveller, Hans went to the country where the instrument originated, and took the opportunity to taste the sands of the land where it came from for quite some time. Hans has immersed himself in various musical genres, and translates the various rhythms and melodies that he’s experienced into new musical genres with extraordinary didgeridoo sounds. The rhythmic and melodic influences include funk, dance, and symphony fusion which have recently formed the image for his didgeridoo music.
This music, often created with other musicians, exhibits duality, combines opposites, dark and light, and ranges from fast, bombastic, rhythms to extremely restrained and meditative sounds. The diversity of his range have brought him to a number of diverse arenas on his musical journey – as a live act in theatres, clubs, churches as well as a huge variety of festivals, both at home and abroad. Hans is an artist of life, a person who lives in order to translate his creative thoughts into musical, poetic expressions.
Philosophy
“Travel, people and nature are my biggest inspiration. In other words, I realize that I am a resident of a huge space with everything moving within it. This gives me the drive to follow what I feel deeply inside. Sometimes you come across “things” in your life and feel that there is much more to them than what you see on the surface, that an infinite world exists underneath. The didgeridoo is such a passion that draws me, and even though the instrument has a land of origin, I realize that it also comprises a piece of the enormous universe that we all live in. From that perspective, I see that everything in this same universe is inextricably linked, without any boundaries. It is with this realization – that everything is “whole” and interconnected – that I play the didgeridoo and give inspiring lessons.
Experimenting with new musical influences and styles are as natural to me as the changing times – with the development of the music at least as interesting as a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
Above all, I find that music and sounds create an intense interaction, both for me as well as for sharing with others”
Karssen – didgeridooshop
Performings
Ceremonies
workshops
