Ruben Rushanyan

Ruben Rushanyan Master of Armenian Shvi, Bluel, Pku, Zurna, Tsiranapogh, Parkapzuk.
Instruments made By Master Ruben are well known in the world

The Duduk: From Village Feasts to Hollywood Movies

[July 17, 2006]

Duduk is the only instrument that makes me cry
Aram Khachaturyan / Hetq.am

How a duduk is made

Varpet (master) Rubik's day begins this way: with a cup of black coffee in front of him on the table and a cigarette in his hand, he leans back in his chair, closes his eyes and begins sketching the future instrument in his mind. But no, not every day starts like this; only those days when the varpet's muse visits him, because, he says, you must make the duduk only when you are in right mood to do so; otherwise the duduk will have no soul.

Varpet Rubik then tries the instruments once they are made; half of the duduk disappearing in his big hands, he brings the instrument to his mouth and a soft, slow melody fills his studio in basement floor.

Now is the time to use the machines and the tools.

Varpet Rubik has been making duduks for 45 years and is self-taught. About 50 years ago he was playing a homemade shvi (flute) as he herded his family's cows in the fields of the Yerord Mas district. The musician Avetichyan saw him and invited him to play in the Yerord Mas Cultural House. The young cowherd agrees and whilst playing in the Cultural House became drawn to the duduk as well.

"At that time (the late 1950s)," Varpet Rubik remembers, "only two people in Armenia were making shvi, Harout from the Kond district and Tatos from Leninakan (Gyumri). They would make duduk by eye, and the musicians would have to tune the instrument themselves. Other less skilled people would try to make duduks and sell them in the bazaar. Very few people played the duduk. To find a good duduk was so difficult that great dudukist Vache Hovsepyan had a ghamish (reed) which he used for years; once it just cracked into pieces while he was playing.'

The young man, a mechanical engineer by specialization, decided to make his duduk himself. For years he tried many different woods with varying success. The results of his experiments are here in his studio, from the very first historical duduks up to contemporary instruments. The first duduks consisted of one part. They had nine holes, seven holes on the front and two holes on the back. Then the holes become ten; eight on the front and two on the back. Originally duduks were made of reed.

'Reed is a water plant, says Varpet Roubik, so it is very vulnerable to humidity. When water gets into the plant its parameters change. Hence the sound also changes.'

This distortion was later eliminated: the bodies began to be made of wood and the sound producer, or ghamish, of reed. In Armenia the best or "right" duduks are made of apricot wood. The tree has to be old, around fifty or sixty.

'When a tree grows old its cells die; that is the appropriate tree for the duduk. That wood is very heavy, when it does not allow moisture to go further than the first layer and does not change its shape after it gets dry. The apricot tree has to be solid to get the beautiful timbre of the duduk sound.'

The distinguished soft timbre of the duduk is determined also by the rings on the section of the tree. Their number shows the age of the tree and the gaps between the circles show the quality of the tree. If the circles are far from each other it means the soil there is fertile, so the tree is very well fed and its density is high.

From this viewpoint, the best apricot grows in the village of Oshakan near Ashtarak, where there is clay soil and it is watered naturally, by rain.

'The tree for duduks has to be cut parallel to its rings. Thus you will get the beautiful sound of the duduk. Otherwise the sound is sharp and loud. With that duduk you can play dance melodies.'

Once it is cut, the wood has to be put in a dark, not windy place to dry. The drying process lasts one to three years. Then the varpet cuts square pipes out of the wood, marks the centers, makes them round on the machine and drills the holes. He then prepares the edges where the ghamish will be placed and tunes the instrument with a matkhal tool. Then he makes the ghamish.

'The reed that the is ghamish made of is of two types - male and female. The female sort is soft and obedient like a woman and is the best for the ghamish . The best reed grows in Gyangia on the banks of the river Araks. Now we cannot get there, and so we use local reed from Ghamshlu or Kharabakh, which is not as good.

The reed has to be picked in late autumn when the plant goes to sleep. It needs to be dried as well. Then the reed, sound regulator, and cap are cut.