My name is Brandon Colaco and I am a musician who specializes in playing the didgeridoo. I have been playing the didgeridoo since around 2011 and it has been my teacher in many forms ever since then.
As a kid, I was always fascinated by music. I tried playing the piano for a couple of years but I never enjoyed it at that point of time, probably due to the discipline it demanded. I was about ten years old when i first came accross bands like "Metallica", "Prodigy" and "Iron Maiden" and i instantly fell in love with them. I loved the whole idea of expressing rebellion culture through music. I listened to a lot of music before I eventually came accross a guitar one day. I noticed that i was able to play it with some level of ease but then i never really resonated much with it. Eventually as i grew up i was introduced to the Psychedelic music scene and it was amazing to fall in love all over again with music and the art of listening to it :).
I finished my studies and started working in Bangalore as an Engineer in 2009, within a year I felt that my life was lacking some purpose and I wanted to know what it was. Intrigued by the point of our existence on this planet I kept looking out for something interesting to come my way. Little did i know then that i would become a didgeridoo player :).
In 2010 I first encountered a live didgeridoo performance and it blew away my mind immediately. I instantly started dancing to the didgeridoo sounds and i thought to myself " this person who plays the didgeridoo must be a really really cool person". This sound completely took over me, and for the next 4 weeks I was just listening to various didgeridoo players from accross the globe and was amazed at how beautiful they sounded. It has this rich warm tone that very few other instruments had. It was pure love for me and I desperately wanted to try and play a didgeridoo. Since it was not available easily anywhere around, I decided to buy myself a PVC pipe and made myself a makeshift didgeridoo. It was OK, Almost all the people i knew then had a good laugh at it, and that is probably what motivated me to try and get a wooden didgeridoo. So i kept searching and found myself a friend (Gopal) who made a Bamboo and then a Agawe Didgeridoo for me.Gopal also encouraged me to jam with him and that is the first time i thought of myself as a musician. He also told me about this man called "Mukeshji" in Rishikesh and told me that he learnt to make didgeridoos from Mukeshji. i took Gopal's words seriously and wanted to meet Mukeshji myself !! I also always dreamt of going to the Himalaya's and in 2012 i finally decided to go to Rishikesh. I thought i would get a chance to meet Mukeshji and also have a brief encounter with the mountains.
Mukeshji was in his early 70's and was full of stories about the Mountains and the magic that happened there. He took me around, showed me the mountains and also taught me things about life, which inspired me a lot. I kept going back almost every since then to meet him and spend time with him. He taught me the art of working with wood and Crafting Didgeridoo.
He became a very important part of my life and he considered me as a part of his family. He has a DIY workshop in Rishikesh Called "Jungle Vibe's" and he has been making Didgeridoos for over 40 years now. You can visit his workshop and pick out your own wood and he will teach you to craft an instrument out of it.
So my trip to the mountains did change my life in many ways. Not only did i get my first Hard wood didgeridoo but I discovered the joy of trekking for long durations and that in turn introduced me to the idea of being physically, emotionally and spiritually fit. I started practicing Yoga and Meditation and soon realized that my meditation practice was working really well with my didgeridoo practice. They were both the perfect companions I needed at that point of time for some spiritual growth.
Thus inspired by the didgeridoo, my travels and the mountains, I decided to quit my corporate job in 2017 and spend more time doing things that I would like to learn and become better at.
So today I live in Chikmagalur where I have made a small studio for myself, i live very close to the jungle, i love going on hikes and studying the biodiversity of the jungles. My environment in turn inspires me to make my art and music. I have been painting since 2019 🙂 You can find my artwork for sale on Instagram (brandoncolaco).
I am also working on my solo music project called the "Two eyed Wizard" and hoping to release it at some point later on this year. It is Bass heavy intelligent dance music revolving around the rhythms of the didgeridoo. Instagram handle is twoeyedwizard.
I am a self taught player and i do conduct workshops on didgeridoo playing and crafting in Bangalore and other parts of the country.
My playing workshops are generally for a small group and focuses more on understanding the dynamics of breathing and how to apply that knowledge to improve your skill as a Didgeridoo Player.
I would like to ask anybody reading this to feel free to reach out to me in case you connect with my dialogue and i would be more than happy to help in whatever way i can !! Cheers.