The ''parkapzuk'' ( hy, Պարկապզուկ) is a droneless, horn-belled

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, ...

played in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

. The double-chanters each have five or six finger-holes, but the chanters are tuned slightly apart, giving a " beat" as the soundwaves of each interfere, resulting in a penetrating tone. Researchers in 1996 and 1997 noted they recorded one of the last active pipers of that time. The Parkapzuk is made of sheep or lamb skin, which has been gutted and hardened. The size of the 'bag', depends on the player's comfortable size. The pipes are made of wood. Wood was the original material, preferably wood from an apricot tree, but today some of the pipes have been made of plastic, as it is cheaper and less difficult to make. Some sources indicate that the ''parkapzuk'' is single

chanter The chanter is the part of the bagpipe upon which the player creates the melody. It consists of a number of finger-holes, and in its simpler forms looks similar to a recorder. On more elaborate bagpipes, such as the Northumbrian bagpipes or th ...

ed, while others indicate it is double-chantered like the ''

tulum Tulum (, yua, Tulu'um) is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Carib ...

''.

Musical groups

*Arev Armenian Folk Ensemble *Shoghaken Ensemble
HayrenTkzar Ensemble

Resources

of Ernesto Fisher

References

Armenian musical instruments Bagpipes {{Bagpipes-stub