At the top of my list of things to bring home was “one of those, you know, snake charmer oboes.” That would be a zourna (don't forget to roll the 'r'). I can't get more than one or two notes at a time out of it yet. The doudouk, in front, has a very broad double reed and is fairly easy to get a tune from. I'll need a lesson from an oboe player before I can do anything with a zourna.The people selling zournas had several and were saying, “This one is an Armenian zourna, this one is Iranian, this is Georgian...” I don't know which I ended up with. The doudouk is unique to Armenia, though.
I saw (and heard) someone playing the doudouk in front of the church at Gekhard, in a three-piece ensemble with clarinet and drum. The doudouk was playing chord tones behind the clarinet. I bought a tape with a doudouk soloist and orchestra backup; on that the doudouk sounds more like a viola than like an oboe.
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