The making and mastering of the duduk - Armenia's national treasure

(21 Jan 2023)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Yerevan, Armenia - 06 January 2023

1. Various of Yerevan Conservatory professor Gevorg Dabagyan and his student Narek Avetisyan playing a duduk
2. SOUNDBITE (Armenian) Gevorg Dabagyan, Yerevan Conservatory professor:
"Duduk is the most Armenian instrument in the world, our treasure and pride. We will always show the world our Armenian spiritual instrument."

3. Dabagyan testing a duduk before starting rehearsal
4. Mid of Dabagyan playing a duduk
5. Close of a dhol (drum) accompanying a duduk
6. SOUNDBITE (Armenian) Gevorg Dabagyan, Yerevan Conservatory professor:
"No one has been able to determine the exact time of its appearance with precision. There is a saying that the duduk appeared at the same time as Armenians."

7. Various of Avetisyan, student, playing accompanied by a dhol
8. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Narek Avetisyan, student:
"There is a demand (for duduk playing) everywhere, all over the world, and also especially in Armenia - for national, international (music). But most of all I would like to play it in a symphony orchestra as well as on a stage, and to play international, classical and national songs."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Yerevan, Armenia - 27 December 2022

9. Mid of duduk maker Galust Galstyan playing a duduk
10. Various of a duduk being made, as Galstyan rotates it on tool
11. Galstyan holding a duduk part
12. Close of duduk part
13. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Galust Galstyan, duduk master:
"A Duduk is made of different kinds of wood, such as apple, pear, walnut, but mostly of apricot, as it gets you the best timbre, so masters make a duduk most often out of apricot."

14. Galstyan walking in a garden
15. Wide of Galstyan showing the size of tree necessary to make a duduk UPSOUND (Russian) Galust Galstyan, duduk master:
"The instrument is made mostly out of the internal part of the tree."

16. Close of tree stump as Galstyan shows the internal part
17. Pan from Galstyan to dying apple tree UPSOUND (Russian) Galust Galstyan, duduk master:
"Because there is dry weather, some trees did not take root, apple trees wouldn't take root. Here is an apple tree already dying, while apricot trees survive, they are more resilient."

18. Duduk parts on a shelf
19. Various of Galstyan shaping, marking and making holes in a duduk on machine
20. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Galust Galstyan, duduk master:
"We fire the holes with hardened metal so that the wood is tightened there. After firing, we proceed to tuning the instrument so that it makes the right notes."

21. Close of fire
22. Close of a duduk as Galstyan fires finger holes
23. Galstyan milling a duduk and cutting out excess wood off finger holes

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Yerevan, Armenia - 12 January 2023

24. Wide of street market
25. Duduks on sale
26. Close of souvenir duduks
27. Close of duduks
28. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Zorik Galstyan, seller:
"The more they know about the duduk, the more they buy it, despite the fact that coronavirus and the war between Russia and Ukraine affect us badly a little, but still, of course, every year more and more of duduks are sold."

29. Close of souvenir reading (English) "Armenia"
30. Various of duduks on sale
31. Wide of street market


STORYLINE:
LEAD IN:

The Armenian musical instrument known as the duduk has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years - some say even thousands.

Crafted from the hardy apricot tree, the woodwind instrument is a national pride in Armenia, where it continues to take a central role in both modern and traditional cultural gatherings.


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