School of Music

Instruments of War

Dr John Morgan O’Connell was awarded a research fellowship by Cardiff University to study music in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

Entitled Instruments of War, his proposal reflected a continued interest concerning the role of music in conflict and the place of music in conflict resolution.

Dr O’Connell’s 2010 edited collection Music and Conflict (co-edited with Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco) highlighted the role of music in both inciting and resolving a spectrum of social and political conflicts in the contemporary world. He has also written on the topic for the journal Ethnomusicology.

This award was consistent with a wider interest within Cardiff University in commemorating the Great War in Wales. Although principally intended to publish materials related to music in the Middle East Campaign (1914-1918), Dr O’Connell’s research proposal also established a collaborative link between Cardiff University and the National Museum Wales where music is viewed as an integral part of the WW1 initiative.

Read an archived blog post to find out more about this project and about music in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.