A duduk is a cylindrical double-reed instrument belonging to the oboe family, which also includes the oboe, oboe d’amore, English horn, heckelphone, Chinese suona and guan, Japanese hichiriki, Korean p’iri, and European shawm. The duduk is made of mulberry or apricot tree wood and is known by a variety of names throughout the Middle East. So, if you hear about the balaban of Northern Iran, the Turkish mey, the balaban of Azerbaijan, the Turks’ and Kurds’ qamata, and the Qaraqalpaks’ balaman, you might think it’s an instrument that sounds a lot like Armenia’s and Georgia’s duduk.
The duduk, pronounced /doo DOOK/, has a reed and a body, like many of its contemporaries. The tone is often described as rich and warm, with a nasality that is typical of the oboe family. It has eight fingerholes and a thumbhole, similar to other similar instruments. However, it should not be confused with the duduk of western Bulgaria, which is a 6-hole flute rather than an oboe.
The duduk, according to player Pedro Eustache, can extend its range using two unique techniques. The “lipping up” embouchure technique can be used to raise the duduk range by a minor third. On an A duduk, a G3 can be reached by closing the lowest hole with the knee.
Djivan Gasparyan, Chris Bleth, Albert Vardanyan, Gevorg Dabagian, Mirtitch Mahossian, Sergei Karapetian, Pedro Eustache, and Vatchatchian Avakian are all well-known duduk players. The duduk has become a popular international instrument in film soundtracks, with Peter Gabriel using it in The Last Temptation of Christ’s soundtrack, for example. Gasparyan has played duduk in films like Ronin, Gladiator, Syriana, and Blood Diamond, as well as Bleth in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.