MUMBAI: An Oxford-based expert in the music of Turkish, Arab and Islamic cultures has won one of the world’s most prestigious prizes in music.
Martin Stokes, Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at the University of Oxford, is the 2010 winner of the Dent Medal, awarded by the Royal Musical Association for an outstanding body of academic work or a single large-scale study.
Dr Stokes has authored and edited several books but is not certain which piece of work earned him the prize.â€?I don’t think I can have won it for any one book,’ he says. â€?I imagine it’s just for plugging away all these years.’
Ethnomusicology is the social and cultural study of music. â€?It’s about reconciling and understanding music as an aesthetic object,’ Dr Stokes explains.
â€?The term was first coined in the 1950s but it wasn’t commonly used until the 1960s or 1970s. Ethnomusicology is becoming increasingly well represented in UK universities now though. Most music departments would consider it right for one or more people to be working on non-European music.’
Dr Stokes graduated from Oxford University with a degree in music in 1984. Five years later he completed a DPhil in social anthropology.
He taught at Queen’s University Belfast then at the University of Chicago. Dr Stokes returned to Oxford to join the Faculty of Music in 2007. He is also Tutorial Fellow in Music at St John’s College.
Dr Stokes developed his interest in Middle Eastern music during time spent living and working in Turkey in the mid-1980s. â€?Historically the area is important but also neglected, and the study of music offers a peculiarly interesting picture of Middle Eastern society.’
He plays the organ and qanun – pronounced â€?kanoon’ – a trapezoidal string instrument, held on the lap and plucked, and is a member of Oxford Maqam, an ensemble that performs classical Arabic and Turkish music.
â€?If you want to understand how music works in a culture you need to know the building blocks. And the best way of acquiring that knowledge is to play an instrument. You play, breathe, sit, use your arms. It plugs you into social networks and helps you absorb the system.’
The news of the award came to Dr Stokes by email â€?out of the blue. One knows these things are out there but one doesn’t go out to win them.’ He is only the second ethnomusicologist after 1997 winner Phil Bohlman to win the medal in its 49 year history. â€?That is one of the things that has made me particularly happy.’
Jonathan Cross, Director of Undergraduate Studies at Oxford’s Faculty of Music said: â€?The Faculty is delighted at this public recognition of Martin’s outstanding contributions to the development of ethnomusicology and anthropology not only within Oxford but also on the wider international stage. The RMA Medal is a singular honour and one that Martin richly deserves.’