ALMA IN US WILL HOST A LECTURE ON DUDUK, ARMENIAN NATIONAL INSTRUMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.01.2010 17:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On February 4, Armenian Library and Museum of America
(ALMA) will host a lecture entitled "Armenian duduk and the impact
of cultural policy from Soviet times to present day".

Presentation will be conducted by ALMA Research Fellow Dr. Jonathan
McCollum

Dr. McCollum will examine the impact of folk music both during and
after Soviet rule in Armenia by concentrating specifically on the
duduk as mediator and marker of cultural heritage. Dozens of Hollywood
blockbusters, like "Gladiator," "The Last Temptation of Christ" and
"The Da Vinci Code," have unveiled the Armenian duduk’s ancient soul
in their scores.

Afterwards, master musician Martin Haroutunian will take the audience
on a soulful musical journey with his performance of traditional
Armenian duduk pieces.

Jonathan McCollum’s experiences and interests as an ALMA Research
Fellow have spanned several fields such as ethnomusicology, historical
musicology, archeomusicology, museum studies and art history. He
is the co-author of Armenian Music: A Comprehensive Bibliography
and Discography (Scarecrow Press, 2004), and is a contributor to
Identity, Pluralism, and Soviet Music (Scarecrow Press, in press),
Defining Music: An Ethnomusicological and Philosophical Approach
(Edwin Mellen Press, 2007), and wrote the chapter on "Music of Central
Asia and the Caucasus" in OnMusic World Music Online textbook (2008).

The Duduk (pronounced "doo-dook") is one of the oldest Armenian double
reed instruments in the world. Throughout the centuries, the duduk has
traveled to many neighboring countries and has undergone a few subtle
changes in each of them, such as the specific tuning and the number of
holes, etc. Now variants of duduk can be found in Georgia, Azerbaijan,
Turkey, and Persia, and even as far away as the Balkans. Besides being
called variations of the Armenian word "duduk", such as "duduki" (in
Georgia), it is also referred to as "mey" (in Turkey), and "balaban"
(in Azerbaijan and in parts of Central Asia).

The basic form has changed little in it’s long history. Originally,
like many early flutes, the instrument was made from bone. Then it
advanced to a single, long piece of reed/cane with the mouthpiece
fashioned on one end and holes drilled out along it’s length for
the notes. However, this had the obvious disadvantages of a lack of
durability, namely when any part of it would crack you had to make an
entirely new instrument, and perhaps equally frustrating, it could not
be tuned. So, to address both of these problems, it was eventually
modified into two pieces: a large double reed made of reed/cane;
and a body made of wood. This is the form that is still in use today.

While other countries may use the wood from other fruit and/or nut
trees when making their instruments (often plum and walnut in Georgia,
and Azerbaijan, for example…), in Armenia, the best wood for making
duduks has been found to be from the apricot tree. It has come to be
preferred over the years for it’s unique ability to resonate a sound
that is unique to the Armenian duduk. All of the other variations
of the instrument found in other countries have a very reed-like,
strongly nasal sound, whereas the Armenian duduk has been specifically
developed to produce a warm, soft tone which is closer to a voice than
to a reed. It should be noted that in order to further accentuate these
qualities, a particular technique of reed making has evolved, as well.