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Duduk

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A duduk

The duduk (IPA: [duˈduk]) is a traditional woodwind instrument of Armenian origins.[1][2] This English word is often used generically for a family of ethnic instruments including the doudouk or duduk (դուդուկ) (previously dziranapogh (ծիրանափող, literally "apricot horn") ,the düdük or mey in Turkey, in Georgia, the balaban in Azerbaijan, the narmeh-ney in Iran, the duduka or dudka in Russia and Ukraine, duduk in Serbia, and the daduk in Bulgaria. The English word has been asserted as derived from the Russian word "dudka",[3] or from the Turkish word "düdük".[4]

Overview

The duduk is a double reed instrument which has ancient origins, said to be from 1500 to 3000 years old. 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. Armenian duduks are mainly made from aged apricot wood (Prunus armeniaca, "Armenian plum" in Latin), although other regional varieties use other materials (mulberry, etc.). The particular tuning depends heavily on the region which it is played. In the 20th century the Armenian duduk began to be standardized diatonic in scale and single-octave in range. Accidentals, or chromatics are achieved using fingering techniques. The instrument's body also has different lengths depending upon the range of the instrument and region. The reed (Armenian: ղամիշ, ramish or ghamish), 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 breath requirements. The duduk player is called dudukahar (դուդուկահար) in Armenian.

History

A duduk mouthpiece

The duduk is one of the oldest double reed instruments in the world which dates back over 3,000 years. Variants of the duduk can be found in Armenia and the Caucasus. The roots of Armenian duduk music go back to the times of the Armenian king Tigran the Great (95–55 BC)[citation needed]. The instrument is depicted in numerous Armenian manuscripts of the Middle Ages.[5] The duduk is also the national musical symbol of Armenia.[6]

Balkan duduk

While the term duduk mostly refers to a double reed instrument, it sometimes also refers to a kind of blocked-end flute, which in some part of Macedonia is also called kaval or kavalče. Made of maple or other wood, it comes in two sizes: 700–780 mm and 240–400 mm (duduce). The blocked end is flat. Playing the duduk is fairly straightforward and easy, thus it is widely used throughout Macedonia. Its sound is clean and pleasant.

A duduk player


See also

  1. ^ The Armenian duduk as a "Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity" from the UNESCO's 2005 proclamation.
  2. ^ The Duduk: From Village Feasts to Hollywood Movies
  3. ^ "Beirut: Armenia's Gasparian enchants crowd" (November 30, 2004 article in Armenian Diaspora) "Jivan Gasparian, the 71 year-old Armenian musician world famous for his playing and composition on the duduk […] prefers to call the duduk by its Armenian name, "dziranapogh" (apricot pipe), explaining that the word "duduk" has been used in reference to the instrument for no more than a century, when it was borrowed from the Russian word "dudka" - another kind of folk pipe instrument.".
  4. ^ The "duduk" article (in Russian) in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
  5. ^ Duduk Music
  6. ^ World Music: The Basics - Page 150 by Richard O. Nidel
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