Duduk

The duduk is an ancient double-reed woodwind carved from aged apricot wood. Of Armenian origin and played across Anatolia and the Caucasus, its warm, breathy timbre — often described as the closest instrumental voice to human song — has carried melodies in this region for well over a thousand years. UNESCO has recognised the duduk and its music as intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

A living tradition

The duduk is traditionally played in pairs: one musician holds a continuous drone (the dam) while the other weaves the melody above it. Its wide, flattened double reed gives the instrument its unmistakably soft, reedy warmth — a sound that has long since travelled beyond folk repertoire into film scores and contemporary music.

How Deniz Mahir plays it

The duduk is at the heart of Deniz Mahir Kartal’s work: he teaches the instrument at the University of Hildesheim, plays it alongside Arsen Petrosyan’s duduk and Mikail Yakut’s accordion in the A.G.A Trio, and lets it meet electronic beats and loops in his solo project KafaNar.

Hear it: watch Deniz Mahir play the duduk.