The Armenian Temple of Garni

The other day I came across an old cd of Armenian music.  It was given to me by an Armenian musician at the Temple of Garni – the sole surviving pagan temple in Armenia, and the only classical structure still standing in the country.  Built in the 1st Century AD, it was dedicated to the Armenian sun god Mihr surviving countless invasions and earthquakes to be finally reconstructed in the 1960’s.  The temple is magnificently solid, yet elegant, and leaning back against a Doric column I sat in the sun listening to the mournful tune from a duduk being played nearby.  The local musician could have been playing to the sun god himself, such was the impression of power and harmony in all that surrounded me.

The Armenian duduk is one of the oldest double reed instruments in the world.  Pronounced ‘tsiranapogh’ (if you can), it means ‘apricot-made wind instrument’ and is indigenous to the country.  Variations are found in other regions of the Caucasus and the Middle East but it belongs ‘here’ the musician told me, waving his arm vaguely in the direction of the jam seller nearby.  Under the shade of a small apricot tree, the jam seller had a stall piled high with apricot jam amongst other fruits.  I wondered how old the tree was given the extensive prehistoric history of the cultivation of apricot trees – commonly thought to have originated from Armenia.  The pomegranate beat the apricot to becoming the national symbol of Armenia but I digress because although I knew that I’d be buying a jar of apricot jam (the apricots are seriously good), I also wanted to buy a cd of this man playing his duduk so that back at home I could eat toast covered in apricot jam whilst listening to his music and be transported back to a sunny spot at the Armenian Temple of Garni.