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Djivan Gasparyan

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Djivan Gasparyan was born in 1928 in Solak in Armenia, to parents from Mush, and died in 2021 at the age of 92. He played the duduk, a wooden double-reed instrument related to the oboe, and was called the Master of the duduk. He began at the age of six. In 1948 he became a soloist with the Armenian Song and Dance Ensemble and with the Yerevan philharmonic orchestra. He won four medals at worldwide UNESCO competitions and in 1978 received the title People's Artist of the Armenian Soviet Republic.

Music and breakthrough

Gasparyan taught as a professor at the Yerevan conservatoire and trained many duduk players. In 1998 he released an album with a duduk quartet of his own, with new alto and bass duduks, which he himself called a particularly difficult undertaking. He worked with many well-known artists, including Sting, Peter Gabriel, Brian May, Brian Eno, Hans Zimmer, Ludovico Einaudi and David Sylvian, and recorded with the Kronos Quartet and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2006 he received a Grammy nomination for best traditional world music album and in 2002 the Lifetime Achievement Award of WOMEX. In 2010 he took part in the Armenian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Influence

The sound of the duduk is warm, nasal and plaintive, with a breathing tone that resembles a human voice. Peter Gabriel said that Gasparyan enchanted all listeners the moment he put the duduk to his lips. Through his collaborations the duduk became known worldwide, in film music and in pop music too.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Dle Yaman and notice the warm, breathing tone of the duduk. Can you hear how the melody is sustained for a long time and slowly bends, almost like a singing voice?

Discography

Studio albums

Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsArmenian duduk