low deep sound filled the room as Stephen Horowitz put his lips on a long, beautifully carved wood instrument and blew until his lungs grew empty.

"The drone represents the underlying rhythm of nature," said Horowitz. "It's about imitating nature sounds, like the bark of a dog or howl of a coyote," he explained, then barked into the hollow pipe mimicking a sharp dog bark.

The mysterious instrument that Horowitz plays is the didgeridoo, or yidaki, originally played by Aboriginal groups in northern Australia. Traditionally used as a ceremonial instrument, the didgeridoo has crossed the ocean to the United States where annual didgeridoo festivals are held.

Horowitz, a Japanese literature graduate student at Columbia University, is a self-taught didgeridoo player who's never been to Australia. He was introduced to the instrument more than a year ago in Japan where he was studying Japanese. He learned from a friend, practicing on a homemade didgeridoo made fashioned from a PVC pipe. Horowitz is now the proud owner of two authentic Australian didgeridoos.

Stephen Horowitz mimicking the bark of a dog on his didgeridoo PHOTO: Pema Norbu

Every didgeridoo has its own history. Horowitz's didgeridoo, "Rainforest," comes with a rich story as well. Rainforest, bought for $500 from heartlanddige.com, a site based in Australia, is made from the Yellow Blood species of the eucalyptus tree, which is native to Australia.

All traditional didgeridoos are made from tree trunks hollowed out by termites who eat away the heartwood of the tree. Then the bark of the trunk is stripped, and the surface and the inner bore smoothed. The final process is the painting and carving of the didgeridoo. Horowitz pointed to the cross hatch and curved lines carved into the rich blonde wood and explained that it represents the interconnectedness of the rainforest. The little red, white and black dots that line these cravings are commonly found in Aboriginal art, he said.

ut it was not the beautiful artwork or the story that attracted him to this prehistoric instrument.

"It's like no other instrument I have encountered," said Horowitz, who's also played the trombone, Japanese Drum, harmonica, and guitar. "It's a very communal instrument. It brings people together."

Even the learning to play the didgeridoo is a cooperative experience. No academies to teach the didgeridoo exist, according to Horowitz. Instead, all great didgeridoo players have learned to play through personal instruction while living with Aboriginal groups. The other attraction for Horowitz is that there are no standards, no composers, no sheets of music, allowing him the freedom to play whatever he wants.

The difficulty, he said, is mastering circular breathing, a technique that allows simultaneous breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. "You can play non-stop because of the circular breathing. You can lose yourself playing," Horowitz said. "Half an hour can go by and you (the player) don't even notice it."

He still recalls the clear starry night he played his didgeridoo sitting by a campfire in upstate New York on a getaway weekend organized by the International House. "There is something magical about playing it outside," Horowitz said. "That's where it's supposed to be."