The 'Duduk Whisperer'; Lodi's Indie Wrestling Underdogs
San Francisco Bay Area-based Khatchadour Khatchadourian is pushing the boundaries of traditional Armenian music. The vocalist and musician plays the duduk, an ancient double reed wind instrument carved from apricot wood, which has cultural ties to the country. Last October, KQED’s Elize Manoukian won a regional Edward. R Murrow award for this profile about how Khatchadourian is preserving culture through sound.
If you turn off Highway 99 just north of Stockton, you’ll find the 209 Dragon’s Den. The venue is wedged between a private home, a plant nursery and a barn, offering one of the humbler places to tangle in the independent wrestling scene. Since it launched about a year ago, it’s been drawing wrestlers from around the state. But the 209 Dragon’s Den isn’t just a place to bring the community together– it also helps wrestlers better understand themselves and their sport. In March, reporter Hannah Weaver took us ringside.