Djivan Gasparyan, The Soul of Armenia

(Network/Harmonia Mundi, two CDs) The Soul of Armenia

Djivan Gasparyan is both the best-known musician in Armenia and the greatest exponent of the duduk, the haunting and atmospheric apricot-wood oboe that was the preserve of local shepherds until he brought it to international concert halls. His music has been used in films from Gladiator to Dead Man Walking. Now, as Gasparyan prepares to celebrate his 80th birthday, comes a well-packaged two-CD retrospective covering his career since 1989, when Brian Eno and Peter Gabriel helped promote him in the west.

What is most remarkable about this set is the sheer variety - Gasparyan plays with a flamenco guitarist, string orchestras, and a large Armenian ensemble. There's even an intriguing, drifting track in which he accompanies both the piano work of Michael Brook, and the extraordinary improvised singing of Pakistan's greatest Sufi Qawwali star, the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. But the finest tracks, some recorded only last year, feature him with minimal accompaniment and demonstrating the duduk's gently mournful charm.

Robin Denselow/ Friday January 4, 2008/ The Guardian