American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies

2006 AAASS/Orbis Books Prize

The 2006 AAASS/Orbis Books Prize for Polish Studies, sponsored by the Orbis Books, Ltd. in London, is presented annually for an outstanding English-language book on any aspect of Polish affairs.

Timothy J. Cooley

The 2006 AAASS/Orbis Books Prize was awarded to Timothy J. Cooley, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Affiliated Faculty in the Global and International Studies Program for Making Music in the Polish Tatras: Tourists, Ethnographers, and Mountain Musicians, published by Indiana University Press.

Making Music in the Polish Tatras is a formidable contribution to the discipline of ethnomusicology, demonstrating Timothy Cooleys deep understanding of the subtleties of the music of Podhale. He offers a technically sophisticated presentation that will appeal to specialists in his field, but this book deserves to reach a much broader audience because of its anthropologically and historically rich exploration of Grale identity. Cooley explores how ethnicity is created and re-created, polemicizing against an essentialist understanding of folk culture by showing how Grale music is produced through the interaction of the local population with a variety of outsiders (including musicologists such as himself). Tracing the evolution of the regions music from the late 19th century to the present day, Cooley shows how tourists, scholars, and musicians from other traditions have all contributed to the definition of what authentic Grale music should sound like. At the same time, this book presents the people of Podhale as active agents in the creation of their own music, not as passive objects in an abstract process of ethnic construction. Making Music in the Polish Tatras describes this music in many settings, including private weddings, tourist restaurants, folk festivals, and even a fascinating collaborative world music project involving Grale and reggae musicians. Cooley draws upon many different methodologies to make his argument, moving from detailed technical analysis of musical forms (with a CD accompanying the book to illustrate his claims), to an archival study of early 20th century Podhale ethnography, to a participant anthropology of music making today.