Duduk

Some information from Wikipedia:

The duduk is a traditional woodwind instrument of Armenian origins, that is popular in the Caucasus, the Middle East and Central Asia. The English word is often used generically for a family of ethnic instruments including the doudouk or duduk in Armenian, the düdük or mey in Turkey, the duduki in Georgia, the balaban (or düdük) in Azerbaijan, the narmeh-ney in Iran, the duduka or dudka in Russia and Ukraine. This instrument is not to be confused with the northwestern Bulgarian folk instrument of the same name - Balkan duduk.

The duduk is a double reed instrument which has ancient origins, said to be from 1500 to 3000 years old. The earliest instruments similar to the duduk's present form are made of bone or entirely of cane. Today the duduk is exclusively made of wood with a large double reed. The particular tuning depends heavily on the region which it is played. In the twentieth century the Armenian duduk began to be standardized diatonic in scale and single-octave in range. Accidentals, or chromatics are achieved using fingering techniques. The instrument's body also has different lengths depending upon the range of the instrument and region. The reed, is made from one or two pieces of cane in a duck-bill type assembly. Unlike other double-reed instruments, the reed is quite wide, helping to give the duduk both its unique, mournful sound, as well as its remarkable breath requirements. The duduk player is called dudukahar.

The duduk is one of the oldest double reed instruments in the world and dates back over 3,000 years to Ancient Armenia. Variants of the duduk can be found in Armenia and the Caucasus. The roots of Armenian duduk music date to the reign of the Armenian king Tigran the Great (r. 95–55 B.C.). The instrument is depicted in numerous Armenian manuscripts of the Middle Ages. According to ethnomusicologist Dr. Jonathan McCollum:

"It is actually the only truly Armenian instrument that’s survived through history, and as such is a symbol of Armenian national identity. The most important quality of the duduk is its ability to express the language dialectic and mood of the Armenian language, which is often the most challenging quality to a duduk player."

How it looks:




Example of playing: