Meet the Duduk Whisperer

Bay Curious

KQED

Places & Travel, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

While you might not recognize the name, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the haunting, almost otherworldly sound the duduk makes. This humble shepherd’s flute wandered out of the Armenian countryside and into Hollywood, making cameos on the scores of movies and shows like The Gladiator and The Last Temptation of Christ. The duduk was even recently synthesized on both Dune soundtracks. Audiences in the Bay Area don’t get many chances to hear the instrument live — unless they’re able to catch a performance by Santa Rosa-based Khatchadour Khatchadourian -- the duduk whisperer. Additional Resources: Meet the Duduk Whisperer: The Bay Area Armenian Folk Musician Revives Centuries of Soul Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Elize Manoukian. This story first aired on the California Report Magazine and was produced by Victoria Mauleon, Suzie Racho, Brendan Willard, Katherine Monahan, Srishti Prabha and Sasha Khokha. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for KQED podcasts comes from Landmark College, offering executive function support and social coaching for neurodivergent individuals at the Bay Area Success Center. Learn more at landmark.edu slash success center.
0:16.3	Support for KQED podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport,
0:21.2	celebrating the year of the horse.
0:23.8	This Lunar New Year SFO can connect you to over 130 destinations worldwide.
0:29.5	Details at flysfo.com slash nonstop.
0:34.4	From KQED.
0:43.4	Okay. From KQED. It's a Saturday night in San Francisco, and a tiny performance space called Red Poppy Arthouse is packed with people.
0:52.1	They're here to listen to a unique wooden reed instrument called the
0:55.7	Duduk that has cultural ties to Armenia. And even if you don't recognize the name
1:03.8	Duduk, there's a good chance you've heard it before. In the soundtracks of some major
1:08.6	Hollywood movies, like The Last Temptation of Christ,
1:12.5	Dude and Gladiator. It's now a staple for Hollywood composers.
1:21.7	The Dduke sound is haunting and almost otherworldly. It transports you.
1:27.4	When it hits you It transports you.
1:34.8	When it hits you, it hits you. It takes you to the place it wants to take you.
1:40.5	That's Hachador Hachedor Jatolli, the Dduke musician and vocalists who performed at the Red Pappy.
1:45.4	He's one of the few in the Bay Area who plays the instrument. His followers call him the Duduk whisperer. He uses it to push the boundaries of traditional Armenian
1:51.5	music. And as our producer, Elise Minukian learned along the way, he's preserving cultural
1:57.5	identity through sound. The Duduk is said to be the world's oldest double-read instrument.
2:04.6	But that doesn't make it easy to play.
2:11.6	When I play it, I sound like a dying goose.
2:14.6	But in Khachadur-Kachadurian's hands, the instrument comes to life.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.