Lévon Minassian was born in Marseilles, a city with a very tightly knit Amenian community. From the beginning, associations were created to perpetuate the memory of the country that had been lost. Born into a family of musicians- his father was violinist- Lévon played the mandolin in...
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Lévon Minassian was born in Marseilles, a city with a very tightly knit Amenian community. From the beginning, associations were created to perpetuate the memory of the country that had been lost. Born into a family of musicians- his father was violinist- Lévon played the mandolin in a folk music group as a child .
In 1974, at the age of 16, he made his first trip to Armenia. This return to his roots represented a decisive step in his musical evolution., because he brought back a doudouk and announced to his family that he intented to learn to play it. Starting at the end of the 1970's, he returned to Armenia several times to study the doudouk with the masters, notably with Djivan Gasparian and Valodia Hartoutionian.
In 1992 Peter Gabriel invited Lévon to record an album with him. Then , in 1993-1994, Lévon joined Gabriel on his world tour "secret world", opening the concerts with a doudouk solo. It was inthis context that he discovered world music, which was a revalation for him.
The doudouk is a number of the oboe family, measuring 25-40 centimeters long, and held horizontally. Made out of apricot wood, it is pierced by nine finger hole. An exceptionally long and wide cane reed fits into one end. The reed is equipped with a tunning ring which is moved up or down to modify the tip opening. The deep melancholic sound of the doudouk "comes from suffering".
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