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The Duduk is a traditional Armenian woodwind instrument from the historical regions of Greater Armenia.
A double reed instrument of ancient origin (it is often asserted that the design is several thousand years old), original Armenian duduks are primarily made of aged apricot wood, although other regional varieties use other materials. It is usually diatonic in scale and single-octave in range, and chromatics are achieved using fingering techniques. Various tunings exist and are determined by body length. The reed, called a "ramish," is made from two pieces of cane in a duck-billed assembly. Unlike other double-reed instruments, the reed is quite wide, giving the duduk both its unique, mournful sound and its remarkable breath requirements.
The duduk was introduced to western popular music through Peter Gabriel's soundtrack for the 80's controversial film The Last Temptation of Christ, which featured virtuoso duduk player Vatche Hovsepian. Duduk performances, with its haunting exotic sound, have since become a commonplace in film and television scores, such as "Hulk", "The Siege" and many many more. The current trend for using it in film and television started by the world renown duduk player Djivan Gasparyan with his performance in "The Gladiator".
The "ney" or "balaban" are instruments used in other parts of the Armenian Plateau and Central Asia which sounds quite similar to the duduk.