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Apr 03 2006

That’s the soulful sound of the duduk. The duduk is a kind of folk
oboe from Armenia. It’s played here by the Armenian master of the
duduk, Djivan Gasparyan. In Gasparyan’s homeland, the duduk embodies
Armenian culture and pervades folk music. But there’s no need to
leave the United States to hear it. There’s probably one playing at
a theater near you. The World’s Adeline Sire explains.

The duduk has become the stuff of Hollywood soundtracks. It’s about
2000 years old, so it’s probably the oldest and the hardest working
instrument in show business. Many blockbusters have featured it,
including The Crow, Dead Man Walking, The Siege, and even Hulk. The
trend started with the 1988 film “The last temptation of Christ.” That
soundtrack was composed by British rock musician Peter Gabriel.

Venezuelan-born musician Pedro Eustache was haunted by the sound of
this mysterious instrument.

Pedro: “I said what the heck is that? It sounded like a cello meets
a voice, meets a clarinet, meets a lot of pain, incredibly expressive
and it just rocked my world.”

Eustache took up the duduk in 1994 and studied with master Djivan
Gasparyan. He soon learned the secrets of this rudimentary instrument
made of Armenian apricot wood. It’s topped with a large reed that
sounds like this:

Eustache is a freelancer and in Hollywood, he’s very much in demand
by film composers. He plays dozens of woodwinds from around the
world. But he treasures the duduk. And likes to improvise on it.

Pedro: Duduk is such a difficult instrument, pfffff…..it kicks
my butt all the time, excuse my French–which is not French– but
duduk can express something very specific, peculiar, particular,
that nothing else can express. I would say evocative, I would say
extreme expression from sweetness to pain and they say in Armenia,
the sound of this instrument is a prayer.”

That quasi-holy sound has made the duduk a welcomed guest in religious
film epics. In 2004, 16 years after “the last temptation of Christ
” the duduk appeared in Mel Gibson’s film “the Passion of the
Christ.” And this time, Eustache was playing.

More than an instrument, the duduk is a dramatic device. John Debney
composed the score for “the Passion of the Christ.” He says he chose
the duduk because it sounds just like a human voice. But he says that
usually when film composers use it, they aim to refer to the distant
past and distant lands.

Debney: “It does evoke something ancient. I think that most westerners
are drawn to this instrument because it is a plaintive instrument that
is very exotic and very beautiful. And I think that’s very appealing.”

Filed under “ancient times” evoked by the duduk, you find the films
“Gladiator” and “Alexander.” And as for exotic, in 2005 alone, the
duduk evoked a fictitious land in “Chronicles of Narnia,” and the
middle east in “Syriana” and “Munich.”

Pedro Eustache is the featured duduk player in Munich’s soundtrack. And
he’s played many more gigs, even in settings beyond Hollywood. He
says the duduk is quite a chameleon.

Eustache: “I’ve played this in churches, in Hispanic churches, I have
played this in huge arenas all over the world, I have played this from
Dubai to India to Japan to Venezuela, I’ve used this in Iranian pop,
you know, it’s pretty amazing.”

Eustache also performs with classical Indian music master Ravi
Shankar. In 2002, Eustache performed with Shankar and his band
in London. It was a memorial concert for the Beatles’ George
Harrison. Shankar had written a duduk solo for Eustache. And that solo
didn’t fall on deaf ears. Paul McCartney was so impressed by the sound
of the instrument that he inquired about the musician who’d played it.

McCartney: “He said that he called Ravi Shankar….and said “Ravi,
I want to have that Indian musician that plays this mournful Indian
instrument…. voovoovoo…. and Ravi said “No no no, he’s not Indian,
he’s from Venezuela and the instrument is from Armenia.. hahaha…”

McCartney called Eustache and invited him to play a duet on his latest
album “Chaos and creation in the garden.” The song is “Jenny Wren.”

Pedro Eustache is convinced that this folk horn from Armenia has a
powerful and limitless reach. He says it will definitely outlive its
current fad. It’s just a hunch but it’s based on experience.

Eustache: “I’m from Venezuela, South America. My parents came from
Haiti and I am a whole multicultural weird thing. My point being,
there are things that go beyond geography and chronology an the sound
of the duduk is one of them. I have played this instrument anywhere
and everywhere and it affects people, it immediately capture’s
people’s sensibilities, it connects deeply with them, I think there
is something so incredibly universal about the sound, the strength,
the reality of this instrument.”

Its appeal is so universal that last November, UNESCO issued a
proclamation naming duduk music a “Masterpiece of the Oral and
Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”

As for Eustache, he’ll next play on a couple of songs Stevie Wonder
is writing for a documentary. Eustache says the R’N’B star loves the
instrument so much he’s getting one for himself. The duduk’s next
appearance will be brought to the silver screen by composer Hans
Zimmer. Zimmer asked master Djivan Gasparyan to the play for the
soundtrack of “The Da Vinci Code,” out this May.

For the World, I’m Adeline Sire.

Pedro Eustache is a woodwind player and a duduk specialist.

For information about Pedro Eustache and his latest solo CD, go to:

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