Duduk


The Armenian duduk or tsiranapogh, is a double reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood originating from Armenia. Variations of the Armenian duduk appear throughout the Caucasus, the Balkans, and the Middle East. The duduk, balaban and mey are almost identical, except for historical and geographical differences.
It is commonly played in pairs: while the first player plays the melody, the second plays a steady drone called dum, and the sound of the two instruments together creates a richer, more haunting sound. The unflattened reed and cylindrical body produce a sound closer to the English horn than the oboe or bassoon. Unlike other double reed instruments like the oboe or shawm, the duduk has a very large reed proportional to its size.
UNESCO proclaimed the Armenian duduk and its music as a Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005 and inscribed it in 2008. Duduk music has been used in a number of Hollywood films.

Etymology

Both the Russian book Musical Instruments Encyclopedia and American book Musical Instruments, A Comprehensive Dictionary give an ultimate origin of the name as Persian, the word tutak.
In Armenia, the instrument is also known as tsiranapogh.
This instrument is not to be confused with the northwestern Bulgarian folk instrument of the same name.

Overview

The duduk is a double reed instrument with ancient origins, having existed since at least the fifth century, while there are Armenian scholars who believe it existed more than 1,500 years before that. The earliest instruments similar to the duduk's present form are made of bone or entirely of cane. Today, the duduk is exclusively made of wood with a large double reed, with the body made from aged apricot wood.
The particular tuning depends heavily on the region in which it is played. An eight-hole duduk can play ten successive notes of a diatonic scale with simple fingering, or sixteen consecutive notes of a chromatic scale by half-covering holes. For example, an A duduk can play all the notes from F♯ to the A more than an octave higher. By using the lips to "bend" notes and partially covering holes any pitch in this range can be produced, as required for Oriental music. The instrument's body has different lengths depending upon the range of the instrument and region. The reed, is made from one or two pieces of cane in a duck-bill type assembly. Unlike other double-reed instruments, the reed is quite wide, helping to give the duduk both its unique, mournful sound, as well as its remarkable breathing requirements. The duduk player is called dudukahar in Armenian.
The performers use air stored in their cheeks to keep playing the instrument while they inhale air into their lungs. This "circular" breathing technique is commonly used with all the double-reed instruments in the Middle East.
Duduk "is invariably played with the accompaniment of a second dum duduk, which gives the music an energy and tonic atmosphere, changing the scale harmoniously with the principal duduk."

History

Armenian musicologists cite evidence of the duduk's use as early as 1200 BC, though Western scholars suggest it is 1,500 years old. Variants of the duduk can be found in Armenia and the Caucasus. The history of the Armenian duduk music is dated to the reign of the Armenian king Tigran the Great, who reigned from 95 to 55 B.C. According to ethnomusicologist Dr. Jonathan McCollum, the instrument is depicted in numerous Armenian manuscripts of the Middle Ages, and is "actually the only truly Armenian instrument that's survived through history, and as such is a symbol of Armenian national identity... The most important quality of the duduk is its ability to express the language dialectic and mood of the Armenian language, which is often the most challenging quality to a duduk player."

Balkan duduk

While "duduk" most commonly refers to the double reed instrument described on this page, there is a very similar instrument played in northwestern Bulgaria. This is a blocked-end flute known as a kaval, resembling the Serbian frula, or kavalče in a part of North Macedonia, and as duduk in northwest Bulgaria. Made of maple or other wood, it comes in two sizes: and . The blocked end is flat.

In popular culture

The sound of the duduk has become known to wider audiences through its use in popular film soundtracks. Starting with Peter Gabriel's score for Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, the duduk's archaic and mournful sound has been employed in a variety of genres to depict such moods. Djivan Gasparyan played the duduk in Gladiator, Syriana, and Blood Diamond, among others. It was also used extensively in Battlestar Galactica. In the TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender, its computer-altered sound was given to the fictitious Tsungi horn, most notably played by Iroh and often being featured in the show's soundtrack. With many of the members who worked on ATLA now working on The Dragon Prince, the duduk regularly appears in its soundtrack as well. The sound of the duduk was also used in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for a lullaby which Mr. Tumnus plays on a fictitious double flute, and was featured in the theme song of the Dothraki clan during the TV adaptation Game of Thrones.
Armenia's entry in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, "Apricot Stone," featured Armenian musician Djivan Gasparyan playing the duduk.

Film soundtracks

The Armenian duduk has been used in a number of films, especially "to denote otherworldliness, loneliness, and mourning or to supply a Middle Eastern/Central Asian atmosphere".
File:Benik Iknatyan playing the doudouk.jpg|thumb|right|320px|Benik Ignatyan playing the duduk at the Armenian Genocide memorial complex in Yerevan, Armenia, 1997.
File:Forom des langues 2013 18.jpg|thumb|Duduk player at the in Toulouse, France.

Television soundtracks

  • Angel by Rob Kral
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender by Jeremy Zuckerman features the instrument in a recurring motif associated with the character of Zuko, most notably in the tracks "Iroh's Tsungi Horn" and "The Blue Spirit"
  • Battlestar Galactica by Bear McCreary. Its tracks "Two Funerals", "Starbuck on the Red Moon", "Escape from the Farm", "Colonial Anthem, "Black Market", "Something Dark is Coming", "Martial Law", "Prelude to War" feature the duduk. Roslin's theme was set to lyrics a second time for the third-season premiere "Occupation", this time in Armenian.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Christophe Beck, Tomas Wanker, Rob Dunkin, Douglas Stevens
  • Castle by Robert Duncan
  • Children of Dune by Brian Tyler in the tracks "Dune Messiah", "The Throne of Alia", "The Preacher At Arrakeen", "Farewell"
  • Cold Case by Michael A. Levine
  • CSI: New York by Bill Brown
  • Firefly by Greg Edmonson
  • Game of Thrones by Ramin Djawadi features the instrument in Daenerys Targaryen's theme
  • JAG by Steve Bramson
  • The Mummy Who Would Be King by Gil Talmi, Andrew Gross
  • Over There by Ed Rogers
  • The Pacific by Blake Neely and Geoff Zanelli
  • Path to 9/11 by John Cameron
  • Rome by Jeff Beal
  • The Dragon Prince by Frederik Wiedmann
  • Spartacus by Randy Miller. Track Second Thought
  • Star Trek: Enterprise by Paul Baillargeon
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! by Wayne Sharpe
  • Xena: Warrior Princess by Joseph Loduca
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power by Bear McCreary features this instrument in settings of the Númenor theme.
  • Boohbah
  • Foundation by Bear McCreary features the instrument in a recurring motif associated with the character of Gaal Dornick.