Below (Via Andrew Sullivan) is the latest bad ad from the McCain campaign:

Leaving aside the ridiculous, wrong-headed message, what’s that spooky-cum-mystical Arabian sound whirring away in the background? I believe it’s a duduk.

It’s certainly a familiar noise to all of us today. In the Age On Terror, the duduk, a 3, 000-year-old Armenian woodwind instrument, is increasingly played and heard all over the place. It is an ever-present backing noise in the mass media’s ceaseless racket about the clash of civilizations. Off the top of my head, I recall hearing that same reedy whine in several movies, including “Kingdom of Heaven”, “Rendition”, “Babel”, “Syriana” and even (I think) “Iron Man”. The duduk has almost replaced the oh-so-80s-and-90s electric guitar as the cinematic sound-instrument of our time. And now, of course, it is used in Republican campaign ads.

The duduk is employed to evoke opposite feelings. It can be either scary–“Watch out! Terrorists!”–or soothing–“How enchantingly ethnic!”–depending on context and setting. (The latter mood is often enhanced by an eastern woman singing “hayhhayhahahayhayhay” for 15 minutes without taking breath.)

Yet isn’t the duduk really just annoying? It’s like the bagpipes, only worse. I wish Hollywood, and John McCain, would put their new favourite musical toy back in its box.