Duduk Information & Duduk Links at HealthHaven.com

Duduk
	; Traditional Duduk
Other names	Düdük, ծիրանափող, Dziranapogh, duduki, дудка
Classification	Wind instrument with Double reed
Playing range
Musicians
	Djivan Gasparyan, Alihan Samedov, Gevorg Dabaghyan

A duduk

The duduk is a traditional woodwind instrument, popular with the people of Caucasus, Middle East and Eastern Europe.^[1]^[2]^[3] This English word is often used generically for a family of ethnic instruments including the doudouk or duduk (դուդուկ) (also tsiranapogh (ծիրանափող, literally "apricot horn") in Armenian, the düdük or mey in Turkey, the duduki in Georgia, the balaban (or düdük) in Azerbaijan^[4], the narmeh-ney in Iran, the duduka or dudka in Russia and Ukraine, duduk in Macedonia and Serbia, and the douduk in Bulgaria. The English word has been asserted as derived from the Turkish word "düdük",^[5]^[6] or from the Russian word "dudka".^[7] However the word dudka in Slavic languages also derives from the Turkish düdük.^[8]

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: եղեգն, yeghegn), 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 and 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.^[9]

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 Bulgaria and a 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

References

^ The Armenian duduk as a "Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity" from the UNESCO's 2005 proclamation.
^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam, v. 7, p. 209. Brill, 1993. ISBN 9004094199, 9789004094192
^ The Duduk: From Village Feasts to Hollywood Movies
^ Encyclopaedia Iranica. Balaban
^ The "duduk" article (in Russian) in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
^ Russian language dictionary in 4 volumes. Volume 1. 1999
^ "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.".
^ Christine Wessely. Die Türken und was von ihnen blieb. Verband der Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaften Österreichs, 1978, p. 77.
^ Duduk Music

External links

[Unesco-0] The Armenian duduk as a "Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity" from the UNESCO's 2005 proclamation.

[1] The Encyclopaedia of Islam, v. 7, p. 209. Brill, 1993. ISBN 9004094199, 9789004094192

[heqt-2] The Duduk: From Village Feasts to Hollywood Movies

[3] Encyclopaedia Iranica. Balaban

[GSE-4] The "duduk" article (in Russian) in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia

[5] Russian language dictionary in 4 volumes. Volume 1. 1999

[ArmenianDiaspora-6] "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.".

[7] Christine Wessely. Die Türken und was von ihnen blieb. Verband der Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaften Österreichs, 1978, p. 77.

[8] Duduk Music

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

Contents

Overview

History

Balkan duduk

References

See also

External links