One year after we lost the great Armenian duduk player Djivan Gasparyan, a bust has been installed in his honour at Komitas Pantheon in Yerevan.

Gasparyan was an absolute master of his instrument. His 1983 solo debut I Will Not Be Sad In This World left music fans around the world breathless. Brian Eno called it “one of the most beautiful and soulful recordings I have ever heard.”

Gasparyan first picked up the duduk at age six. He earned multiple prizes during his career, including four UNESCO medals and a Lifetime Achievement Award from WOMEX, the World Music Expo in 2002.

His solo career coincided perfectly with the emerging interest in world music in the 1980s. In addition to Eno, he worked with a long list of contemporary and pop music greats, including Peter Gabriel, Sting, Michael Brook, Brian May, Lionel Richie, David Sylvian, Hans Zimmer and Andreas Vollenweider.