This is my performance of the popular Armenian folk tune Hovern Enkan, first made internationally famous by Djivan Gasparian. Peter Gabriel wanted Gasparian on the score of Kazantzakis' The Last Temptation of Christ, but couldn't find him. However, he managed to track down Levon Manassian, a pupil of Gasparian living in Marseilles, and recorded him for the film score.

DUDUK

One of my compositions, based on a traditional Kurdish Koslama. The arrangement is for duduk, Iranian daf, kora, oud and double bass. This is an excerpt from the CD Safar by the World Wind Band.

Duduk is a double-reed chalumeau from the Transcaucasus area between Russia, Turkey and Iran. It has various forms and names in different countries of the region but the Armenian style is generally acknowledged to be the most beautiful and expressive. Duduk is traditionally played in pairs, with one musician playing the melody and a second the drone. Reed-making for the duduk is a highly skilled art, and each reed takes two or three weeks to make. The instrument body can easily be fashioned on a lathe. The best-sounding instruments are made from apricot wood.

Djivan Gasparian: 'The native Armenian name of duduk is Tsiranapogh. Originally, duduk was made of a piece of cane. The short mouthpiece fixed to duduk – Pipich – was made of a special sort of cane, growing only in certain districts of Armenia. It is indeed due to this fact that the instrument has such an unusual and particular sound. Pipich is perhaps the only thing that was inherited from the ancient Tsiranapogh by the modern duduk. The instrument as it looks today was first made in XIII century.'

    The duduk is variously dated to between 1500 years old and 3000 years old, but is by all accounts ancient.

Djivan and me discussing reeds. Yerevan, September 2010