Stephen Kent
is one of the premier virtuosos in contemporary didgeridoo.
Born in England, he has pioneered the modern day use of the ancient Australian Aboriginal instrument across multiple genres, based at various times in Australia, UK, Spain, San Francisco Bay Area, and Hawaii . He has performed in five continents and recorded a catalog of over 30 CD releases spanning 1988 to the present. This includes eight solo works, and multiple collaborations with group projects including Lights in a Fat City, Trance Mission, and, most recently, The Sky is in Love With You
He has created genre-bending music, collaborating with extraordinary musicians across the world
Including - Airto Moreira, Zakir Hussain, Habib Koite, Rahim Al Haj, Leonard Eto, Herbie Hancock & Wayne Shorter, R. Carlos Nakai, Steve Roach and Chirgilchin among countless others.
Increasingly Stephen works with New Classical music, especially that of the great Australian composer, Peter Sculthorpe. Stephen has played his music with the BYU Philharmonic in Utah, recorded and performed with the Del Sol Quartet at the Library of Congress and toured the Pacific Northwest with the Delgani String Quartet.
Stephen was introduced to Didgeridoo and to Aboriginal culture in the early 1980's as Musical Director of Australia’s Circus Oz in Melbourne. He traveled to indigenous communities in the Northern Territory and asked permission to play Didjeridu as a contemporary, rather than a traditional, musician.
He launched his Didjeridu career full time in 1987 and toured the world, both as a solo artist and with band projects, Lights in a Fat City, Trance Mission, Baraka Moon, Australian Bebop Ragas, Megadrums.
Stephen has also worked with radio producing and hosting a popular “Music of the World” show on Pacifica Radio’s flagship KPFA for over 26 years.