BENJAMIN KOEN, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology, received the B. Mus. degree in Jazz Studies,andtheM.M.and Ph.D. degrees (cognitive ethnomusicology) from the Ohio State University. His primary research concerns music and healing, integrative research and Medical Ethnomusicology. He has conducted field research in rural and urban environments in Asia and the U.S., most recently, in Badakhshan, Tajikistan. Recent publications drawing from his dissertation Devotional Music and Healing in Badakhshan, Tajikistan: Preventive and Curative Practices appear in The World of Music (forthcoming), Studies On Persianate Societies, and the Tajik journal Fonus.

Dr. Koen's interests are broad and integrative in nature. He has presented papers at national and international meetings in such diverse areas as ethnomusicology, medical anthropology, music therapy, mental health, Central Eurasian and Iranian studies. For one year he lived in northeast China, where he held a college faculty position teaching music, culture, and language. There he learned the xiao bamboo flute, and continued his studies of tai chi and chi gong.

As a jazz musician (tenor saxophone, flute, bass clarinet), Koen has performed in over thirty countries, islands and territories, and has been a member in the bands of David Murray, Cecil Taylor, William Parker, Billy Bang, and D.D. Jackson. Dr. Koen has published three recordings as a leader and appeared on multiple recordings as a sideman. He also plays various traditional flutes, as well as African and Middle Eastern drums.