The enormous auditorium of the Kremlin in Moscow was full on December 4 as spectators had come to listen to Jivan Gasparyan-the master in playing the small, Armenian national musical instrument called the duduk. Jivan Gasparyan is known around the world for quite a while now and many world-famous musicians consider it an honor to record and play with him live. The great dudukist performed in Moscow with the Russian national symphonic orchestra, he performed the well known songs from movie soundtracks where he has played the duduk, and as a continuation of the concert, he presented the Russian audience to Armenian melodies. This was an exclusive concert. The goal of the concert was to reveal all the ways that the duduk can be played and it took more than a year to get ready for this concert. A contest had been declared for composers beforehand to find the best music written based on the Armenian melodies. Ilya Shiplov won the contest and her compositions were performed. Also, the audience heard Russian folkloric melodies and the compositions of the well-known “Deep Purple” group. The joining of duduk and the orchestra was hard to do because you can never predict the improvisations of the duduk player. The duduk can be played even with quarter notes. That’s why orchestra conductor Constantine Orbelyan was forced to practice with each orchestra player and show when the player can move on to the next note. The duduk can be heard in any genre, in any style, it can enrich the melody and tell everything about it. It can cry like a child, help you feel the flame of a broken heart or show the feeling of longing.
Russian presses often call the sound of the duduk “Armenia’s tears” and you can see those tears as you listen to the sounds of this pipe made out of the apricot tree branch. Jivan Gasparyan, who always prepares his own duduks, is certain that the duduk made out of the “growing” apricots of the yard don’t give the real sound. The duduk needs freedom and space, the same things that trees and people need. By enriching the “World Music” concept with the Armenian duduk and hearing the sounds of the duduk played in well-known blockbusters, we understand what the small and wise instrument can do and what a political activist or diplomat can’t do. It can eliminate borders or broaden them.
To be honest, Jivan Gasparyan is a professional and he managed to make the small Armenian folkloric musical instrument become well known and fashioned around the world. His CD sales have hit the record. He performs with the world’s most well known orchestras, records with Peter Gabriel and Sting and dreams of opening a duduk school for children in Armenia.