Music from Armenia

In collaboration with the music section of the Studies and Documentation
Centre of Armenian Culture, Venice, directed by Minas Lourian, the
Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies has organized its second seminar on the duduk, a double-reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood.

A symbol of the Armenian musical tradition, the duduk
(conventionally called the “Armenian oboe”) is a very popular
instrument with a warm slightly nasal tone creating evocative sounds.
It is played to accompany songs and dancing in all the regions of
Armenia and is the principal instrument at weddings and funerals.

In 2005 the duduk (or dziranapogh
in Armenian) was decreed a masterpiece representing the Armenian
musical tradition in the UNESCO “Programme of Masterpieces of the Oral
and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”. The director of the relevant
section is the celebrated musician Gevorg Dabaghyan, who will be the
leading player in the seminar.

A teacher at the Yerevan State College, Gevorg Dabaghyan
is a major living expert on this very ancient instrument. He has
founded several ensembles, including Shoghaken, a group dedicated to
conserving the very rich Armenian folk music heritage. Liturgical music
also features prominently in Dabaghyan’s vast repertory and is a
fundamental part of a thousand-year old tradition characterised by
strong Christian roots, going back to when Armenia was the first
country to proclaim Christianity as its state religion in 301.