Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Surprise meSurprise meSubscribe
Encyclopedia

Duduk

Armenian woodwind musical instrument

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
9 min read
Source updated September 9, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.
Duduk and its music
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
Two Armenian boys playing the duduk
CountryArmenia
DomainsPerforming arts (music)
Reference00092
RegionEurope and North America
Inscription history
Inscription2008 (3rd session)
ListRepresentative

The Armenian duduk (/duːˈduːk/ doo-DOOK; Armenian: դուդուկ IPA: [duˈduk]) or Tsiranapogh (Armenian: ծիրանափող, meaning "apricot-made wind instrument"), is a double reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood originating from Armenia. Variations of the Armenian duduk appear throughout the Caucasus, the Balkans, and the Middle East. The duduk, balaban and mey are almost identical, except for historical and geographical differences.

It is commonly played in pairs: while the first player plays the melody, the second plays a steady drone called dum, and the sound of the two instruments together creates a richer, more haunting sound. The unflattened reed and cylindrical body produce a sound closer to the English horn than the oboe or bassoon. Unlike other double reed instruments like the oboe or shawm, the duduk has a very large reed proportional to its size.

UNESCO proclaimed the Armenian duduk and its music as a Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005 and inscribed it in 2008. Duduk music has been used in a number of Hollywood films.

01Etymology

Both the Russian book Musical Instruments Encyclopedia (Музыкальные инструменты. Энциклопедия) and American book Musical Instruments, A Comprehensive Dictionary give an ultimate origin of the word duduk as Persian, from tutak.

According to some, the name for the instrument may be derived from the Turkish düdük, meaning "reed pipe". Yaşar Çağbayır and Gerard Clauson derive düdük from Old Turkic tütek, which etymologically means "something which steams or smokes", and in practice "a spout" or more generally "a tube", "a pipe as a musical instrument" and "water-pipe". The word düdük can also mean "whistle" in Turkish expressions.

In Armenia, the instrument is also known as tsiranapogh (ծիրանափող), which means apricot pipe.

02Overview

The duduk is a double reed instrument with ancient origins, having existed since at least the fifth century, while there are Armenian scholars who believe it existed more than 1,500 years before that. 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, with the body made from aged apricot wood.

The particular tuning depends heavily on the region in which it is played. An eight-hole duduk (not counting the thumb hole on the lower side) can play ten successive notes of a diatonic scale with simple fingering, or sixteen consecutive notes of a chromatic scale by half-covering holes. For example, an A duduk can play all the notes from F♯ to the A more than an octave higher. (Another reference gives different information.) By using the lips to "bend" notes and partially covering holes any pitch in this range can be produced, as required for Oriental music. The instrument's body has different lengths depending upon the range of the instrument and region. The reed (Armenian: եղեգն, eġegn), 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 breathing requirements. The duduk player is called dudukahar (դուդուկահար) in Armenian.

The performers use air stored in their cheeks to keep playing the instrument while they inhale air into their lungs. This "circular" breathing technique is commonly used with all the double-reed instruments in the Middle East.

Duduk "is invariably played with the accompaniment of a second dum duduk, which gives the music an energy and tonic atmosphere, changing the scale harmoniously with the principal duduk."

A duduk reed
A duduk reed

03History

Armenian musicologists cite evidence of the duduk's use as early as 1200 BC, though Western scholars suggest it is 1,500 years old. Variants of the duduk can be found in Armenia and the Caucasus. The history of the Armenian duduk music is dated to the reign of the Armenian king Tigran the Great, who reigned from 95 to 55 B.C. According to ethnomusicologist Dr. Jonathan McCollum, the instrument is depicted in numerous Armenian manuscripts of the Middle Ages, and 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."

Benik Ignatyan playing the duduk at the Armenian Genocide memorial complex in Yerevan, Armenia, 1997.
Benik Ignatyan playing the duduk at the Armenian Genocide memorial complex in Yerevan, Armenia, 1997.

04Balkan duduk

While "duduk" most commonly refers to the double reed instrument described on this page, there is a very similar instrument played in northwestern Bulgaria. This is a blocked-end flute known as a kaval, resembling the Serbian frula, or kavalče in a part of North Macedonia, and as duduk in northwest Bulgaria. Made of maple or other wood, it comes in two sizes: 700-780 millimetres (28-31 in) and 240-400 millimetres (9.4-15.7 in) (duduce). The blocked end is flat.

Duduk player at the Forom des langues du monde in Toulouse, France.
Duduk player at the Forom des langues du monde in Toulouse, France.
Watch videos about DudukExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Duduk”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.