The Pipe Guy drums up a crowd with his tubulum in Dubai

The Pipe Guy played his tubulum to a curious crowd at The Beach as part of Dubai Art Season. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00Pipe guy Jake Clark is an Australian based musician who has garnered international acclaim

00:28for his mastery of an instrument called the tubulum.

00:31Well, if you play drums, it comes naturally.

00:34I have played drums for about 10 years, all sorts of drums, drum kit, hand drums, djembes,

00:42all sorts of drums.

00:43So I built this, my first one I built about two and a half years ago, and the day I built

00:48it, I took it performing because I already had that percussion skills.

00:53So yeah, it came pretty naturally to me, but I've gotten a lot better since I've been

00:58practicing.

00:59So if you know a bit about music and a bit about rhythm, then it's quite easy.

01:04The tubulum is thought to have originated in Papua New Guinea, where the locals would

01:07lash together bamboo at different lengths to achieve the desired tone.

01:11These days, it has been picked up by alternative music enthusiasts looking for a different

01:15and unique way to express themselves musically.

01:19Well, this is the longest pipe here.

01:23This pipe's about three, three and a half meters long, and it travels all the way around

01:27and it actually makes up a lot of the structure of the instrument, and that's the lowest note

01:32I've got.

01:33That's an A, that's very low.

01:35And then this pipe here, it actually just ends here, it's less than one meter long,

01:39and that's very high.

01:42So yeah, I use a chromatic guitar tuner to tune the pipes exactly.

01:48So if the note is a little bit, to make the note sharper, you chop a little bit off, or

01:57you make the pipe smaller, and to make the note flatter, you add a little bit.

02:02Using a pair of old flip flops and meters of PVC pipe lashed together with zap straps

02:06and bungee cords, the pipe guy is able to create a sound that he dubs acoustic trance,

02:12and uses his talent to enthrall unsuspecting crowds around the world.

02:16The first night I went out, I'd finished building it and I went out street performing

02:19in my hometown, Adelaide, in Australia, and I made back all the money that I'd spent on

02:25materials that night, so I was doing alright, but yeah, I've gotten a lot better since then.

02:31Most people's first reaction is to get their phone out and start taking a little video

02:36to take home and show everybody, so yeah, people are pretty amazed, especially children.

02:42Children just have never seen anything like it, they're just speechless, so yeah, that

02:47makes me very happy.

02:50His refreshing and unique approach to music, combined with his own original songs and popular

02:54covers, makes the Pipe Guy a must-see attraction at this year's Dubai Arts Season.

02:59Logan Fish, Golf News.