Mark Atkins

Mark Atkins is an Australian Aboriginal musician known for his skill on the didgeridoo, a traditional instrument.

Mark Atkins is also a storyteller, songwriter, composer and painter. He descends from the Yamatji people of Western Australia. He was the 1990 winner of the Golden Didjeridu competition. He has worked with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Hothouse Flowers, Marlene Cummins, Philip Glass, The Black Arm Band and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

In Didgeridoo Concerto (1994) he plays for over 50 minutes continuously using the circular breathing technique; an unofficial world record at the time.

In 2001, he collaborated with Wurundjeri elder Joy Murphy Wandin and composer Philip Glass in the concert work Voices, performed at the Melbourne Town Hall and New York's Lincoln Center. The composition was commissioned by the City of Melbourne to relaunch the Melbourne Town Hall Organ.

Atkins was profiled in the television documentary "Yamatji Man" in 2003.

Discography

Didgeridoo Concerto, 1994 Plays Didgeridoo, 1995 Didgeridoo Dreamtime, ARC Music, 1999 The Sound of Gondwana: 176,000 Years in the Making (compilation), Black Sun Music/Celestial Harmonies, 1997 The Rough Guide to Australian Aboriginal Music (compilation), World Music Network City Circles Ankala : Rhythms from the outer core, World Network Ankala & World Orchestra : Didje Blows the Games, World Network Walkabout Creeper Vines and Time, Maguari Productions Didge Odyssey, 2006 The Reason To Breathe, 2006 The Bushman, (independent release), 2010 Dreamtime, ARC Music, 2011