Western medicine has conventionally separated music, science, and religion into distinct entities, yet traditional cultures throughout the world have always viewed music as a bridge that
connects and balances the physical with the spiritual to promote health and healing. As people in even the most technologically advanced nations across the globe struggle with obtaining
affordable and reliable healthcare, more and more people are now turning to these ancient cultural practices of holistic and ICAM healing (integrative, complementary, and alternative
medicine).
Beyond the Roof of the World convincingly demonstrates the relevance of medical ethnomusicology in light of the globally spreading ICAM approaches to health and healing. Revealing the Western
separation of healing from spiritual and musical practices as a culturally determined phenomenon, Dr. Benjamin D. Koen confirms their underlying unity. In a place poetically known as the Roof
of the World, the culture found within the towering Pamir Mountains of Badakhshan Tajikistan serves as the paradigm of ICAM healing practices. Koen's extensive research and immersion into the
Badakhshani culture provides a well-balanced "insider" perspective while maintaining an "observer's" view, as he effectively bridges the widespread gaps between ethnomusicology, health science,
and music therapy. Moving beyond the paradigm of the Pamir Mountains to reach out to cultures across the globe, Koen infuses scholarship with lived experience and applied practice as he shows
spirituality and musicality to be intimately intertwined with one's physical life, health and healing.
