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.