Updated July 2026.
The History Of The Duduk – Where Did It Start?
There is no other instrument that can express the Armenian people’s emotions, better than the Armenian duduk. Evolving in the far dawn of Armenia – the duduk is 100% Armenian. Its colorful touching sound has brought it to their daily life. Today, there’s no festival, wedding or a family event without the duduk being the main attraction. Every one of the Armenian duduks for sale in our shop comes from these workshops in Armenia, and later in this article I will tell you about the men who make them.
Our Armenian Duduks
The duduk is one of the oldest double reed instruments in the world and is seen in paintings 2,000 years old. Among all traditional Armenian instruments, only the duduk is being considered to be exclusive ‘Armenian’. From Armenia, the duduk has traveled to other countries like Azerbaijan and Iran where it is called ‘Balaban’, and also to Turkey where it is named ‘Mey’.
The basic form of the duduk has little changed throughout history. Like many other instruments, the duduk was originally out of bone. Later, the duduk has evolved to a long reed instrument, while the mouthpiece is being sculptured from the end of the reed. The obvious con of such an instrument is its fragility. As soon as there was a tiny crack, the instrument wouldn’t function anymore, taking the long work down the drain. That is where the idea came from, to separate the instrument and the reed to two pieces, and to find a more solid wood. And that is how the modern duduk looks, an apricot body and a separate reed, the same form you will see if you shop Armenian duduks today.
Duduk In Modern Music, And Different Countries
While in countries like Azerbaijan and Georgia walnut and plum was used, in Armenia, apricot wood was the one that came in handy. The apricot wasn’t chosen because it’s merely common, but because of the special qualities, it gives to the sound: Soft, pleasant, and close to the human’s voice. The apricot wood has many parts, but only the inner part of the stem is used to make the best duduks. Moreover, the wood goes through an aging process of 8 to 10 years, that only at its end it is suitable for duduk making. This ensures that there are no cracks during the drilling, and not over the years. The duduks by Master Galstyan that we carry are made exactly this way, from apricot that finished its full aging.
And the duduk did not stay only in Armenian villages and weddings. In the last decades it entered film scores and big productions all over the world, and how that happened is mostly the story of one man.
How The Duduk Reached The World
Djivan Gasparyan is the man who took the duduk out of Armenia to the West. Inside Armenia he was already a legend, outside of it almost nobody knew his name, or the instrument he was holding.
That changed with a film. Peter Gabriel was researching the score for Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” when he discovered the duduk, and when he heard Gasparyan playing he put that playing straight on the soundtrack. That was the first time the West really heard this sound.
Later Gasparyan played on the Gladiator score with Hans Zimmer, and that score carried the duduk everywhere. Millions of people sat in cinemas and heard a duduk without knowing what a duduk is. Many of them went looking for it after.
So in about one generation the duduk went from an instrument almost nobody outside Armenia knew, to one that wind players all over the world want to play. Brazil, for some reason I never managed to explain, has many duduk players.
Why The Duduk Sounds Like A Human Voice
People always describe the duduk the same way, they say it sounds like someone singing, or someone crying. There are real physical reasons for it.
The reed of the duduk is very large compared to other double reed instruments, and the body is apricot wood, which gives a soft and warm color. Together they produce a low, breathy tone that sits exactly in the range of a human voice. The duduk also has a small range, one to one and a half octaves depending on how talented the player is, so it cannot run and jump like a flute. It stays close and speaks slowly, like a person.
UNESCO put the duduk and its music on the world heritage list, and I understand why they did. This instrument has soul, the more you listen to it the deeper it goes into your heart. I have seen it move people who never heard of Armenia before, they don’t know the history, they don’t understand the words when someone sings with it, and still it reaches them.
That reach is also, in a way, why the duduk gets fought over. The same pipe is called duduk in Armenia, mey in Turkey and balaban in Azerbaijan, and each country will tell you it is theirs. The songs played on it are claimed the same way. If you want to see how deep that argument runs, read about that one special song, “Sari Gelin”, that Armenians, Turks and Azeris have all sung as their own for generations, and nobody can prove who had it first: Sari Gelin: Armenian, Turkish or Azeri?
The Masters Who Still Make Duduks Today
The duduk is still made by hand in Armenia, in small family workshops, and I want to tell you about two makers I know.
Master Galstyan runs the GGA family workshop near Yerevan, and they are working since 1991. He started after he found a fallen apricot tree and felt there is music sitting in that wood, so he went and learned the craft from a master duduk maker. Today it is a family workshop, and his son, who studied music, brought in new work, duduks tuned to 432Hz for musicians who work in that resonance, and instruments made from wild apricot. We are the official dealer of Master Galstyan, and I am proud of that.
Karen Hakobyan was born in Yerevan in 1961, and he is a player as well as a maker, he played the shvi in the Armenian State Ensemble. That matters, a maker who performs knows what an instrument must do on stage. Djivan Gasparyan himself plays some of his instruments, and I don’t know a better recommendation than that. I met Karen at his home in Yerevan, a humble man, quiet, and a real master.
Maintaining The Reed
The duduk’s reed is the core of the instrument. Maintaining it in good condition is crucial for your ability to play. Here are the main things to help you keep your reed for many years.
- Don’t put the reed in water, as it will disassemble the tiny fibers and eventually break it
- If you have decided to make it wet anyway (for a new or a very old unused reed), roll up the ring to the bottom as you are closing the reed and use a small drop of water to its tip. Shake it slightly and the reed will open by itself, without the need to press it.
- After playing it is important to let the reed dry. This will make the reed last long and will help you to avoid mold.
I wrote a full guide on this subject, with more detail, you can read it here: how to care for your duduk mouthpiece.
If you got until here, do yourself a favor and listen to Gasparyan’s album “I Will Not Be Sad in This World”. You will hear everything I tried to explain here with words.
Daniel Karni
Multi-instrumentalist, oud lover and an expert in Arabic & Turkish musical instruments. Founder of Ethnic Musical, working with luthiers across Turkey, Armenia, and beyond since 2009 to make fine handmade Turkish & Arabic musical instruments.
Gracias, gracias, gracias por la información a cerca del Duduk Armenio.