Djivan Gasparyan (var. Jivan Gasparyan; , ; 12 October 1928 – 6 July 2021) was an Armenian musician and composer. He played the

duduk The duduk ( ; ) or tsiranapogh (, 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 ...

, a

double reed A double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. In contrast with a single reed instrument, where the instrument is played by channeling air against one piece of cane which vibrates against the mouthpiece and ...

woodwind instrument Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and ...

related to the orchestral

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

. Gasparyan is known as the "Master of the duduk". In 2006 he was nominated for

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

for the Best Traditional World Music Album.

Biography

Born in Solak,

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

, to parents from Mush, Gasparyan started to play duduk when he was six. In 1948, he became a soloist of the Armenian Song and Dance Popular Ensemble and the Yerevan Philharmonic Orchestra. He won four medals at

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

worldwide competitions (1959, 1962, 1973, and 1980). In 1973 Gasparyan was awarded the honorary title ''People's Artist of Armenia''. In 2002, he received the

WOMEX WOMEX (short for Worldwide Music Expo) is an international world music support and development project based in Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany ...

(''World Music Expo'') Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a Honorary citizen of Yerevan. A professor at the Yerevan State Musical Conservatory, he instructed and nurtured many performers to professional levels of performance in duduk. In 1998, he released an album with a unique duduk

quartet In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...

he formed. Creating arrangements for four musicians with "new duduk tones, alto and bass, was an extremely difficult task" and challenge, but the quartet did become a reality performing and "there is no other like it in the world", he witnessed in the liner notes of ''Nazeli''. He toured the world several times with a small ensemble playing Armenian

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. His music has been chosen on the soundtrack of several international films. He collaborated with many artists, such as Sting,

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, Erkan Oğur,

Michael Brook Michael Brook (born 1951) is a Canadian guitarist, inventor, music producer, and film music composer. He plays in many genres, including rock, electronica, world music, minimalism and film scores. His collaborations with musicians around the worl ...

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, Roman Miroshnichenko,

Ludovico Einaudi Ludovico Maria Enrico Einaudi OMRI (; born 23 November 1955) is an Italian pianist and composer. Trained at the Milan Conservatory, Conservatorio Verdi in Milan, Einaudi began his career as a classical composer, later incorporating other styles ...

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, and Andreas Vollenweider. He also recorded with the

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical musi ...

and the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

. Gasparyan played as part of the Armenian entry " Apricot Stone" by Eva Rivas at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

and became the oldest ever person to feature in a Eurovision Song Contest performance, but was not officially listed as a guest artist.

Death and legacy

Gasparyan died on 6 July 2021, aged 92. It was announced by his grandson, Djivan Gasparyan Jr. He said "The world has suffered an unimaginable loss tonight. He was not only a legend, but also a person with a beautiful soul. I write with great sorrow about my huge loss. May God keep your soul in the bright sky."

called Gasparyan "the great master of the instrument." He added, "When he lifted his duduk to his lips he cast a spell over all who listened." Gasparyan was highly recognized by the Armenian government. On his 90th birthday, Armenia's Prime Minister

Nikol Pashinyan Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan (born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician who is serving as the 16th and current Prime Minister of Armenia, prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in ...

congratulated Gasparyan, stating: "Our people and music lovers around the world have already ranked you among the world’s great musicians. As a living legend, you are a credit to all Armenians." Upon his death, President Armen Sarkissian described him as a "legendary duduk player" who was "one of the pillars of our modern culture, whose name is associated with the creative and working activities of musicians, especially a whole generation of duduk players." Pashinyan called him "an exceptional Armenian intellectual and ranked him among the Greats of the world art; we were proud and inspired by him." Catholicos

Karekin II Catholicos Garegin II (, also spelled Karekin; born 21 August 1951) is the Catholicos of All Armenians, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, since 1999. In 2013 he was unanimously elected the Oriental Orthodox head of the World Cou ...

, leader of the

Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the Autocephaly, autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christianity, Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic ...

, sent a letter of condolences to his family. "For decades, he performed the gems of the Armenian music on many stages in Armenia and abroad, serving the grateful mission of recognizing and spreading our culture," read the statement.

Discography

* ''Duduk. Armenian folk songs'' (Мелодия / Melody, 1983) / ''I Will Not Be Sad in This World'' (

All Saints Records All Saints Records is a British independent record label specialising in post-rock, downtempo and ambient music. History All Saints Records was established on 1 November 1991 by Dominic Norman-Taylor (formerly of Opal Records). Originally ...

, 1989) * ''Moon Shines at Night'' (

, 1993) * ''Ask Me No Questions'' (Traditional Crossroads 4268, 1994) * ''Apricots From Eden'' (Traditional Crossroads 4276, 1996) * ''Salute'' (1998) * ''Black Rock'', with

(Realworld 46230, 1998) * ''Djivan Gasparyan Quartet - Nazeli'' (Libra Music 1998) * ''Heavenly Duduk'' (Network 1999) * ''Armenian Fantasies'' (Network 34801, 2000) * ''Nazani'' (2001) * ''Fuad'', with Erkan Oğur (Traditional Turkish & Armenian songs) (2001) * ''In My World, I Have No Pain'' (World Records - Parseghian Records, 2002) * ''Endless Vision: Persian And Armenian Songs'', with

(World Village, Harmonia Mundi, 2005) * ''Nectar for the Bitter World'' (2007) * ''The Soul of Armenia'' (Network Medien's double-CD package 2008) *''Penumbra'', with Michael Brook (Canadian Rational/bigHelium, 2008) Collaborations as guest artist * Dead Bees on a Cake,

; (Gasparyan appears on the track 'Darkest Dreaming') * ''Cosmopoly'', as guest of Andreas Vollenweider (EDEL Records, SLG Records (USA/Canada) * ''Naked Spirit'', special guest of Sainkho, 1998 * '' Eden Roc'',

, (1999) (Gasparyan appears on 3 tracks) * ''

Free Fall In classical mechanics, free fall is any motion of a physical object, body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. A freely falling object may not necessarily be falling down in the vertical direction. If the common definition of the word ...

'',

Jesse Cook Jesse Arnaud Cook (born November 28, 1964) is a Canadian guitarist. He is a Juno Award winner, ''Acoustic Guitar'' Player's Choice Award silver winner in the Flamenco Category, and a three-time winner of the Canadian Smooth Jazz award for Guita ...

(Narada, 2000) (Gasparyan appears on the track "Incantation") * '' Blood of the Snake'',

(2006) (Gasparyan appears on the track "Prelude To Battle") * ''RockPaperScissors'', Michael Brook (EQR 0006, 2006) (Gasparyan appears on track "Pasadena part two") * ''Pangea'' with Lian Ensemble (Houman Pourmehdi & Piraye Pourafar), Swapan Chaudhuri and Miroslav Tadić (Lian Records 118, 2006) * ''Lightpost'' EP by The Apex Theory featuring Djivan Gasparyan (2007) Selection of film soundtrack contributions * ''

The Crow ''The Crow'' is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name. The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fianc� ...

'', soundtrack (1994) * '' The Siege'', soundtrack (1998) * '' Ronin'', soundtrack (1998) * '' Gladiator: More Music From the Motion Picture'', soundtrack 2000 * ''

Syriana ''Syriana'' is a 2005 American political thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, loosely based on Robert Baer's 2003 memoir '' See No Evil''. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wr ...

'', soundtrack (2005) * ''

Blood Diamond Blood diamonds (also called conflict diamonds, brown diamonds, hot diamonds, or red diamonds) are diamonds mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army's war efforts, terrorism, or a warlord's activity. The term is u ...

'', soundtrack (2006) * '' Samsara'', soundtrack (2011) (as Dijan Gasparyan)

References

External links

Official Website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gasparyan, Djivan 1928 births 2021 deaths Armenian male composers Dudukahars Woodwind musicians Real World Records artists All Saints Records artists Armenian film score composers Male composers Male film score composers 20th-century Armenian composers 20th-century male musicians 21st-century Armenian musicians 21st-century Armenian male musicians 21st-century composers 21st-century male musicians Armenian folk musicians People from Kotayk Province Academic staff of the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan