1. Introduction

1.1 Duduk

 

"The duduk is a double-reed acrophone made of apricot wood, with a distinctive velvety and deeply evocative sound, which for many Armenians has become strongly associated with notions of national identity. Although almost identical in basic construction to similar instruments played for example in neighboring Georgia (duduki), Azerbaijan (yasti balaman), and Turkey (mey) since the 1920s in Armenia the duduk has slowly acquired a distinctive national identity and sound. Furthermore in recent years the duduk has been brought to the attention of the world through the recordings of Djivan Gasparyan, for example the recording of "I will not be sad in this world" by Brian Eno and the soundtrack to Scorcese's Film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)" (Cornell, 1998, p.3)

 

"The mey, balaban, and duduk are three closely related instruments of the double-reed family. The Turkish mey, the Caucasian balaban (particularly in Azerbaijan, but also northern Iran and northeastern Iraq), and the Armenian duduk are closely related, double-reed aeorophones, characterized by a short cylindrical tube with seven or more finger holes and a thumb hole coupled with a bridle affixed to a large flattened reed. Other, closely related instruments are the balaban of Central Asia; the duduki of Georgia; the hichiriki of Japan; the kuan, guan, or guanzi of China; the yasti balaban of Dagestan; the hyanpiri of Korea; the balaban of Uzbekistan; and the kamis sırnay of Kyrgyzstan." (Karahasanoğlu, 2008, p.438)

 

The Armenian duduk was improved by V.G. Buni in the 1920s and '30s. (Nercessian, 2001, p.17) "The development of the duduk has been strongly patterned by sociopolitical events. V. G. Buni's reconstruction of the instrument, for example, has to some extent, instigated its appearance on the concert stage as a solo or ensemble instrument. The use of diatonic scale and notation has been a result of the Soviet policy of Europeanization." (Nercessian, 2001, p.18)

According to the information I received from my Armenian teacher Suren Asaduryan, the name of the duduk was "Tsiranapogh" before. The name was changed to "Duduk" later because "Tsiranapogh" was not easy to pronounce for Russian-speaking people. I could not find any meaning of "Duduk" in Armenian but "düdük" means "whisper" in Turkish. After a long period of sharing the same land and being very close of Turks and Armenians, I think it would be inevitable to take some words from each other and "duduk" may be one of these words.


Armenian ethnomusicologist Andy Nercessian stated that “I had, as a child; often overheard my parents and my grandparents use the word düdük in Turkish expressions, which refer to a whistle” (Nercessian, 2001, p.4). And Turkish musicologist Songül Karahasanoğlu says "The letter and sound of “ü” does not exist in the Armenian language; instead, the “u” without umlauts has been used, so the word duduk is only a variation of the word düdük. The Armenian citizens who live in Türkiye pronounce the word üzüm (grapes) like uzum or yuzum." (Karahasanoğlu, 2008, p.444)

The duduk has a 1.5 octave range and it is a transposed instrument which means that there are different keys and sizes of duduks. My key of A bass duduk has an exception; it has a one-octave range but there are also wider range, extended bass duduks. It is possible to play all microtones, semitones, mods, and scales on the duduk. 

The duduk has mainly two pieces; the body and the reed. The body is the wooden part and is mostly made of apricot wood. There are 10 fingerholes on the body; 8 of them are in front and the other 2 are behind. The reed part is made of cane and it also has two more tiny pieces; a regulator (gamish, kamış) and a cap. The regulator is like a ring and is made of grape tree branches. It is to control and make tiny adjustments on the wideness of the mouth of the reed for stabilizing the intonation and tuning. The cap is to keep the reed closed and protected when it is not used. 

 

My duduks have an exception. After my instrument build experiments, I made my duduks with one of the back holes in front, because the fingerhole at the bottom-front is made to be closed by the belly or knee but since it is not possible to use the knee or belly when we play with a microphone. Also, all the sounds of the duduk come from the fingerholes; the volume balance of the instrument is better when we have all the fingerholes in the front. As you can see in the image above, the keys of F, C and D duduks have 9 fingerholes in the front while the keys of A, Ab, and G duduks have 11 fingerholes.

1.2 Autobiography

I was born in 1990 in Istanbul, Turkey, amidst the complexities of Armenian and Turkish relations, I am a Turkish duduk player passionately preserving  Armenian techniques. (Cornell, 1998)

In my artistic expression, I blend the heritages of Armenian, Ottoman, Turkish, and Anatolian traditions with a contemporary perspective, echoing the diverse essence of Istanbul. My pursuit of authenticity encompasses the exploration of extended techniques and the use of electronic treatments. These elements are integral to my journey, allowing me to push the boundaries of the duduk and explore new realms of sound and expression.

In Istanbul, while pursuing my studies in Turkish music at Istanbul Technical University, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet and learn from esteemed duduk masters Suren Asaduryan and Özcan Gül. Their guidance was instrumental in shaping my perspective on the duduk.

Furthering my education, I had my master’s degree in World Music program at the University of Agder, and have been to the University of Gothenburg as an exchange student for two semesters, I was honored to study under some of Scandinavia’s most distinguished musicians. They generously shared their expertise and insights, deeply enriching my musical identity and the way to be a solo artist and a curious collaborator.

1.3 A Closer Look to My Relation with the Duduk

 


I met the duduk when I was studying Mey and Zurna at Yalova Municipality Conservatory in the town where I was born. I discovered the duduk through my mey teacher Erdem Kılıç and the performance video of Turkish Duduk player Ertan Tekin on YouTube who has been a pioneer in Turkey. I started to learn the duduk with the instruction of my mey teacher Erdem Kılıç and by myself in 2006.

To buy a duduk, I met Armenian duduk artist Suren Asaduryan, who comes to Turkey from Armenia from time to time. I bought my first duduks from him and every time we met he gave me some technical information, but at that time I was not aware of how good his technical capacity was. During our meetings, he recommended meeting Özcan Gül and taking lessons from him, but since I had never heard this name before, I did not pay much attention to this advice. One day, I crossed paths with Özcan Gül in Istanbul and we met. This duduk player, whose name I had never heard, had a very superior performance technique and a deep knowledge of the functioning of the duduk system, in addition to his generous, humble and friendly attitude. His and Suren's techniques are different than Ertan Tekin's and my mey teacher's because Erdem and Ertan were mey players and were playing the duduk with mey technique. We met and started playing duduk together and I decided to try Özcan's technique. Until I met Özcan, I had been practicing the duduk with the mey technique for 4-5 years. I left aside my previous technique, which I had brought to a certain level, and bought the instruments he recommended, and completely changed my technique. Özcan Gül was also a student of Suren Asaduryan, but I observed that he added his own experiences to the information he received from Suren. I learned a lot from him, not only about playing technique, but also about tuning the instrument and how to control its tone well, and this encouraged me to make my instruments and experiments.

This technique that I learned from Suren Asaduryan and Özcan Gül is shaped in Armenia with the contribution of several players mainly Vatche Hovsepian. (Hovsepyan, 2021, p.38) is one of the most important names in duduk history and he gained a lot of respect from other players. He brought a rich and soft way of playing to duduk.

"Opinions differ as to whether some of the famous duduk players are worthy of their fame, however, there is an overall agreement that Vatche Hovsepian was the greatest of all duduk players" (Nercessian, 2001, p.38)