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.
There have been two published lines of thinking on the origins of the word.
Both the Russian book Musical Instruments Encyclopedia (Музыкальные инструменты. Энциклопедия) and American book Musical Instruments, A Comprehensive Dictionary give an ultimate origin of the name as Persian, the word tutak.[9][10]
In Armenia, the instrument is also known as tsiranapogh (
ծիրանափող [
hy]).
This instrument is not to be confused with the northwestern Bulgarian folk instrument of the same name (see below,
Balkan duduk). Similar instruments used in other parts of
Western Asia are the mey and balaban.
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.[11] 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.[12]
The particular tuning depends heavily on the region in which it is played. An eight-hole duduk (not counting the thumb hole on the lower side) 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.[13][14] (Another reference gives different information.[15]) By using the lips to "bend" notes and partially covering holes any pitch in this range can be produced, as required for Oriental music.[16] The instrument's body has different lengths depending upon the range of the instrument and region. The
reed (Armenian:
եղեգն, eġegn), 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 (
դուդուկահար) 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.[17]
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."[18]
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.[19][unreliable source?] 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.[20] 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."[21]
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 Macedonia,[22] and as duduk in northwest Bulgaria.[23][24] Made of maple or other wood, it comes in two sizes: 700–780 millimetres (28–31 in) and 240–400 millimetres (9.4–15.7 in) (duduce). The blocked end is flat.
The 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".[29]
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series) 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.[38][39][40] Roslin's theme was set to lyrics a second time for the third-season premiere "Occupation", this time in Armenian.
"Come Along" by
Cosmo Sheldrake (from the 2017 album "The Much Much How How and I", and featured in advertisements for Apple's
iPhone XR in the UK, USA, and Canada)
"Meeting" album by A.G.A. Trio with Arsen Petrosyan on Duduk (2020 by
NAXOS WORLD)
Anime soundtracks
Tales from Earthsea by Tamiya Terashima, in the tracks "The Trip", "The Spider" and "Violent Robbery/The Seduction of the Undead".[48]
^"The Duduk and National Identity in Armenia". Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society. 32.
American Musical Instrument Society: 183. 2006. ...the duduk (pronounced doo-dook)...
^Stokes, Jamie, ed. (2008). Peoples of Africa and the Middle East, Volume 1. p.
63.
ISBN978-0-8160-7158-6. One of the oldest indigenous Armenian instruments is the duduk, a woodwind instrument usually made from apricot wood, with a double reed.
^"Armenian duduk and other Armenian folk instruments"(PDF). UNESCO. June 2003. p. 32. Retrieved 16 March 2014. Duduk is considered to be the most Armenian of all folk instruments for its Armenian origin and honest expression. It has a 1500 – year history and is native to Armenia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
^"Sounds of Armenian duduk". UNESCO. November 2012. Archived from
the original on 16 March 2014. Duduk and its music were inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008 (originally proclaimed in 2005). The duduk, or "dziranapogh" in Armenian, is a double-reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood, conventionally called the "Armenian oboe".
^Есипова М. В., ed. (2008). "Дудук (свистковая флейта и язычковый духовой инструмент)". Музыкальные инструменты. Энциклопедия.
Moscow: Дека-ВС. pp. 207–209. [Information in English: Musical instruments. Encyclopedia Publisher: Deca-Sun, The year of publishing: 2008, Place of publication: Moscow, Text language: Russian, Editor/compiler: Esipova M.V., ISBN 978-5-901951-40-8]
^Andrea L. Stanton; Edward Ramsamy; Peter J. Seybolt, eds. (2012). Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia. Thousand Oaks, California:
SAGE Publications. p.
167.
ISBN9781412981767.
^Brennan, Mike (2 December 2005).
"The Chronicles of Narnia Review". Archived from
the original on 16 March 2014. These include the use of the duduk as Mr. Tumnus' pipe in "A Narnia Lullaby"...
^Savita Gautham.
"inese rhapsody". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2004-02-25. Retrieved 2003-10-23.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)