Yr Athro John Morgan O'Connell

MA (Oxon), MA (UCLA), PhD (UCLA), AGSM

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Email:: oconnelljm@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone:: +44 (0)29 2087 0394

I am an Irish ethnomusicologist with a specialist interest in cultural history. I have recently completed a monograph on music and commemoration as it relates to the Gallipoli Campaign from the perspective of the Australians and the Turks, the British and the Germans, amongst others (see O’Connell 2017). I also explore the issues of militarism and orientalism with respect to Irish recruits in the military catastrophe, my own family in particular having an ongoing connection with the Ottoman Empire. Some of my ancestors were administrators and soldiers in Ottoman territories, and others were diplomats and doctors in the Ottoman capital (see Figure 1). Significantly, a number of my relatives were either killed or wounded in the Gallipoli Campaign (see Figure 2).

This research builds upon my established interest in the music of the Middle East. It also draws upon my continued research on music in conflict zones. These academic strands have resulted in significant outputs in the form of a monograph (see O’Connell 2013) and a collection (see O’Connell Ed. 2010) respectively. I am currently working on a project that concerns music in Ireland during the Great War. I also aim to complete a study on music in the late Ottoman Empire. In addition, I have conducted impact related research in the Muslim world in association with the Aga Khan Humanities Project (see O’Connell 2015) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2014).

Forthcoming Publications: Selected

O'Connell, John M. 2017. Commemorating Gallipoli: Music, Memory, Myth. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. [Accepted: 130,000 words]

O'Connell, John M. 2017. ‘Kâr-ı Nev: Elaboration and Retardation in the Musical Performances of a Turkish Classic’. Eds Rachel Harris and Martin Stokes. Theory and Practice in the Music of the Islamic World: Essays in Honour of Owen Wright. London: Routledge, 123-143. [Accepted: 10,000 words]

Education:

1996: PhD (Ethnomusicology) UCLA, USA
1992: MA (Music) UCLA, USA
1986: AGSM (Performance) Guildhall School of Music, UK
1985: MA (Geography) Oxford University, UK
1982: BA (Geography) Oxford University, UK

Fellowships: Selected

2006: Getty Foundation Internship, Koç Üniversitesi, Turkey
2002: Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, Brown University, USA
2001: Music Consultant, Aga Khan Humanities Project, Tajikistan
1992: Turkish Government Fellowship, İstanbul Üniversitesi, Turkey
1991: Graduate Distinguished Scholar, UCLA, USA
1990: DAAD Fellowship, Freie Universität, Germany
1988: Graduate Fellowship, UCLA, USA
1987: Research Associate, York University, UK

Safleoedd academaidd blaenorol

Permanent Appointments:

Otago University (Lecturer)
University of Limerick (Senior Lecturer)
Cardiff University (Professor)

Visiting Appointments:

Queen's University (Visiting Lecturer)
Brown University (Visiting Professor)
Haverford College (Distinguished Visiting Professor), among others

Ymrwymiadau siarad cyhoeddus

Recent: Selected (2014-)

2017: ‘De la musique pour la guerre: pluralisme et chauvinisme’, La Fondation Royaumont, Paris (France)

2017: Keynote. ‘Heal the Pain: The Arts in the Dardanelles (1915)’, Centre for Nineteenth Century Studies, Durham University (UK)
2016: ‘Turân: A Turkic Myth in Turkish Music’, Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum, SOAS, London (UK)
2016: ‘Telling Tales: Musical Creativity and National Identity in the Gallipoli Campaign’, Commemorating WWI, National Museum, Cardiff (UK)
2016: ‘Saz as Symbol: A Turkic Lute in the Turkish Diaspora’, Music of the Silk Road, Shanghai Conservatory, Shanghai (China)
2015: ‘The Classical Style: Modal Analysis of a Vocal Improvisation in Turkey’, 3rd International Mugam Symposium, Baku (Azerbaijan)
2015: ‘The Pulse of Asia: Musical Diffusion and Environmental Determinism in Central Asia’, International Council for Traditional Music, Astana (Kazakhstan)
2014: ‘Usûlsüz: A Matter of Meter in the Concerts of Münir Nurettin Selçuk (1923-1938)’, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster (Germany)
2014: ‘Ottomanism Revived: Jewish Musicians and Cultural Politics in Turkey’, Society for Ethnomusicology, Pittsburgh (USA)
2014: ‘Concert Platform: Style and Space in Turkish Music’, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisation, London (UK)
2014: ‘Mythality: Myth and Reality in Turkish Music’, Arnolfini, Bristol (UK)

2017

O'Connell, J. 2017. Commemorating Gallipoli through music: Remembering and forgetting.. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, Lexington Monographs.
O'Connell, J. M. 2017. Usûlsüz: Meter in the Concerts of Münir Nurettin Selçuk (1923-1938). In: Jäger, R. M., Helvacı, Z. and Olley, J. eds. Rhythmic cycles and structures in the art music of the Middle East.. Ergon Verlag, pp. 247-276.
O'Connell, J. M. 2017. Concert platform: a space for a style in Turkish music. In: Spinetti, F. and Frishkopf, M. eds. Music, Sound, and Architecture in Islam.. University of Texas Press, pp. 79-109.
O'Connell, J. 2017. Kâr-ı Nev: elaboration and retardation in the musical performances of a Turkish classic. In: Harris, R. and Stokes, M. eds. Theory and Practice in the Music of the Islamic World: Essays in Honour of Owen Wright.. Routledge, pp. 123-143.
O'Connell, J. 2017. Concert platform: a space for a style in Turkish music. In: Spinetti, F. and Frishkopf, M. eds. Music, Sound, and Architecture in Islam.. University of Texas Press, pp. 79-109.

2015

O'Connell, J. M. 2015. Iranian classical music: the discourse and practice of creativity. By Laudan Nooshin [Book Review]. Music and Letters 96(4), pp. 677-679. (10.1093/ml/gcv080)
O'Connell, J. M. 2015. Gazel. In: Jankowsky, R. C. ed. Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World., Vol. 10. Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 35-37.
O'Connell, J. M. 2015. Modal trails, model trials: Musical migrants and mystical critics in Turkey. In: Davis, R. ed. Musical Exodus: Al-Andalus and its Jewish Diasporas.. Europea: Ethnomusicologies and Modernities Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 101-124.
O'Connell, J. M. 2015. Music and humanism in the Aga Khan Humanities Project. In: Pettan, S. and Titon, J. T. eds. The Oxford Handbook of Applied Ethnomusicology.. Oxford Handbooks Oxford University Press, pp. 602-638.
O'Connell, J. M. 2015. The classical style: modal analysis of vocal improvisation in Turkey. In: Agayeva, S. ed. Space of Maugham.. Şerq-Qerb, pp. 124-139.

2013

O'Connell, J. M. 2013. Alaturka: Style in Turkish music (1923-1938).. SOAS Musicology Series. Aldershot: Ashgate.
O'Connell, J. M. 2013. Pir Sultan Abdal. In: Fleet, K. et al. eds. Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three.. Brill, pp. 135-136., (10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_23910)
O'Connell, J. M. 2013. Beste. In: Fleet, K. et al. eds. Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three.. Brill, pp. 52-53., (10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_24017)

2011

O'Connell, J. M. 2011. Music in war, music for peace: A review article. Ethnomusicology 55(1), pp. 112-127. (10.5406/ethnomusicology.55.1.0112)

2010

O'Connell, J. M. 2010. Alabanda: Brass bands and musical methods in Turkey. In: Spinetti, F. ed. Giuseppe Donizetti Pasha: Musical and Historical Trajectories between Italy and Turkey [Giuseppe Donizetti Pascià: Traiettorie Musicali e Storiche tra Italia e Turchia].. Saggi e Monografie Vol. 7. Bergamo, Italy: Fondazione Donizetti, pp. 19-37.
O'Connell, J. M. 2010. A staged fright: Musical hybridity and religious intolerance in Turkey, 1923-38. twentieth-century music 7(1), pp. 3-28. (10.1017/S147857221100003X)
O'Connell, J. M. 2010. Music in war. In: O'Connell, J. M. and El-Shawan Castelo-Branco, S. eds. Music and Conflict.. University of Illinois Press, pp. 15-16.
O'Connell, J. M. 2010. Music and the play of power in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Laudan Nooshin, ed. [Book Review]. Ethnomusicology 54(2), pp. 347-351. (10.5406/ethnomusicology.54.2.0347)
O'Connell, J. M. and El-Shawan Castelo-Branco, S. eds. 2010. Music and Conflict.. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
O'Connell, J. M. 2010. Introduction: an ethnomusicological approach to music and conflict. In: O'Connell, J. M. and El-Shawan Castelo-Branco, S. eds. Music and Conflict.. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, pp. 1-14.

2009

O'Connell, J. M. 2009. Ayin. In: Fleet, K. et al. eds. Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three.. Brill, pp. 86-87., (10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_23036)

2008

O'Connell, J. M. 2008. War of the Waves: Cypriot Broadcasting in Great Britain. In: Hemetek, U. and Sağlam, H. eds. Music from Turkey in the Diaspora.. Klanglese Vol. 5. Vienna: Institut für Volksmusikforschung und Ethnomusikologie, pp. 119-130.

2007

O'Connell, J. M. 2007. Timothy D. Taylor, Beyond exoticism: Western music and the world (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007), ISBN 978 0 8223 9571 (hb), 978 0 8223 3968 7 (pb) [Book Review]. Twentieth-Century Music 4(2), pp. 261-265. (10.1017/S1478572208000546)
O'Connell, J. M. 2007. Falak: the voice of destiny: traditional, popular and symphonic music of Tajikistan. Compiled by Federico Spinetti [Musical Recording Review]. Ethnomusicology Forum 16(1), pp. 179-181. (10.1080/17411910701273101)

2006

O'Connell, J. M. 2006. National symposium: towards a national ethnomusicology. Bulletin of the International Council for Traditional Music 109, pp. 61-62.
O'Connell, J. M. 2006. 'The mermaid of the Meyhane: the legend of a Greek singer in a Turkish tavern'. In: Linda, P. A. and Inna, N. eds. Music of the Sirens.. Indiana University Press, pp. 273-293.

2005

O'Connell, J. M. 2005. The Edvâr of Demetrius Cantemir: recent publications. Ethnomusicology Forum 14(2), pp. 235-239. (10.1080/17411910500415887)
O'Connell, J. M. 2005. In the time of Alaturka: Identifying difference in musical discourse. Ethnomusicology 49(2), pp. 177-205.
O'Connell, J. M. 2005. The 15th ICTM colloquium: identifying conflict in music, resolving conflict through music. Bulletin of the International Council for Traditional Music 106, pp. 55-57.
O'Connell, J. M. and Smith, T. 2005. Liaison officer report: Ireland. Bulletin of the International Council for Traditional Music 106, pp. 65-67.
O'Connell, J. M. 2005. 'Sound sense: mediterranean music from a Turkish perspective'. In: Cooper, D. and Dawe, K. eds. The Mediterranean in Music.. Scarecrow Press, pp. 3-25.

2004

O'Connell, J. M. 2004. Liaison officer report: Ireland. Bulletin of the International Council for Traditional Music 105, pp. 24-27.
O'Connell, J. M. 2004. Sustaining difference: theorizing minority musics in Badakhshan. In: Hemetek, U. et al. eds. Manifold Identites.. Cambridge Scholars Press, pp. 1-19.
O'Connell, J. M. 2004. The tale of Crazy Harman: the musician and the concept of music in the Türkmen epic tale, Harman Däli by Sławomira Żerańska-Kominek [Book Review]. Yearbook for Traditional Music 36, pp. 171-175.

2003

O'Connell, J. M. 2003. A resounding issue: Greek recordings of Turkish music, 1923-1938. Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 37(2), pp. 200-216.
O'Connell, J. M. 2003. Song cycle: the life and death of the Turkish gazel: a review essay [Musical Recordings Review]. Ethnomusicology 47(3), pp. 399-414. (10.2307/3113948)
O'Connell, J. M. 2003. Music of the Ottoman court: makam, composition and the early Ottoman instrumental repertoire by Walter Feldman [Book Review]. Edebiyât 13(2), pp. 260-263. (10.1080/0364650032000143283)

2002

O'Connell, J. M. 2002. From Empire to Republic: vocal style in twentieth century Turkey. In: Danielson, V., Marcus, S. and Reynolds, D. eds. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The Middle East., Vol. 6. Routledge, pp. 781-787.
O'Connell, J. M. 2002. Snapshot: Tanburî Cemil Bey. In: Danielson, V., Marcus, S. and Reynolds, D. eds. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The Middle East.. Routledge, pp. 757-758.

2001

O'Connell, J. M. 2001. Fine art, fine music: Controlling Turkish taste at the Fine Arts Academy in 1926. Yearbook for Traditional Music 32, pp. 117-142. (10.2307/3185245)
O'Connell, J. M. 2001. Major minorities: towards an ethnomusicology of Irish minority musics. In: Pettan, S., Reyes, A. and Komavec, M. eds. Music and Minorities.. ZRC Publishing, pp. 165-182.
O'Connell, J. M. 2001. Münir Nurettin Selçuk. In: Sadie, S. and Tyrrell, J. eds. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.. Oxford University Press, pp. 55-56.

1998

O'Connell, J. M. 1998. The Arab in Arabesk: style and stereotype in Turkish vocal performance. In: Wharton, B. and Adawy, N. eds. The Limerick Anthology of Arab Affairs.. University of Limerick Press, pp. 87-103.

1991

O'Connell, J. M. 1991. Die musik der Araber (The music of the Arabs) by Habib Hasan Touma [Book Review]. Asian Music 22(1), pp. 154-156. (10.2307/834296)

1989

O'Connell, J. M. 1989. Jean During. La musique traditionnelle de I'Azerbayjan et la science des muqâms [Book Review]. Pacific Review of Ethnomusicology 5, pp. 130-132.

I offer a range of lectures and seminars. At an undergraduate level, I teach the following lectures: ‘Music in Human Life’ (Year 1), ‘Music in Cross-Cultural Perspective’ (Year 2) and ‘Project in Ethnomusicology’ (Year 3). At a postgraduate level, I teach the following seminars: ‘The Anthropology of Music’, ‘Methods in Ethnomusicology’, ‘The World of Music’, ‘Doing Ethnomusicology’, ‘The Language of Music’ and ‘Music and Discourse’. I also offer specialist seminars that concern music in the Middle East and music in the Celtic world. My doctoral students are currently completing research on musical topics in the Celtic world, the Balkans, and Turkey.

My research concerns the musical traditions of the Muslim world, with a secondary area of expertise in the musical traditions of Europe. Other areas of interest include the significance of hermeneutic theory and historical ethnography for ethnomusicology. In 2013, I published a monograph on Turkish style in the early-Republican period (1923-1938). In 2010, I edited a scholarly collection that concerns music and conflict in a global perspective. Further, I have recently published chapters on music and humanism, music and classicism, and music and architecture. Having submitted for publication my latest book on music and commemoration in the Gallipoli Campaign (contract signed November, 2016), I am now undertaking a study of music in Ireland during the Great War.

I have acted as a music consultant for a number of international organizations, being awarded a Senior Fulbright Fellowship in association with the Aga Khan Humanities Project (2002) and a Getty Foundation Grant to participate in its International Summer Institute (2006). I was also awarded an AHRC fellowship (2014) for a project entitled ‘The God Article’. I have hosted a variety of international conferences including the 15th ICTM International Colloquium (2004) and the annual conference of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (2008). I was reviews editor for the journal Ethnomusicology. I am currently a member of the editorial boards for the SOAS Musicology Series, Ethnomusicology Forum and the Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, amongst others.

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