scholar-ing
I am an ethnomusicologist and received the Ph.D. in Music at UC Berkeley .
My research interests include:
The musics of Morocco, North Africa, and Arab cultures
Gnawa music and ritual
Islam, Sufism, Trance, Ritual
Sound in Islamic epistemology
Musical interaction, Groove, Entrainment
Entertainment, Performance, Folklore, Dance
My 2009 dissertation on the music of the Lila ceremony of the Gnawa of Marrakesh is entitled "Musicking Moves and Ritual Grooves Across the Moroccan Gnawa Night."
I have taught and lectured extensively on a wide range of musical traditions of the Americas and of the Middle East and North Africa.
- Liner notes in "Maalem Mahmoud Gania - Aicha." Vinyl LP HMRLP010. UK: Hive Mind Records, 2020.
- Liner notes in "Ouled Bambara: Portraits of Gnawa." DVD-compact disc DC403CD/T&F#002. Chicago: Twos & Fews/Drag City, 2009.
- Liner notes and translation of Arabic lyrics in "World of Gnawa." Rounder compact disc 82161-5080-2. Cambridge, MA: Rounder, 2001.
- "Doukkali, Abdelwahab", "Hamdaouia, Hajja" and "Slaoui, Houcine", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. 2nd edition. New York: Grove's Dictionaries, 2001.
- Pandemonium renewed: the legend of the Master Musicians of Jajouka". Journal of the International Institute [Ann Arbor] 3/2 (winter 1996) 26-28.
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS AND INTERVIEWS
- Interview about Gnawa music on "Voices of the Middle East and North Africa", KPFA 94.1-FM, Berkeley, October 27 and November 3, 2010.
- Interview as part of the Afropop Worldwide Hip Deep radio program "Traveling Spirit Masters: The Gnawa of Morocco". October, 2009.
- "Baraka in Motion: Co-enunciation and its display in the Moroccan Gnawa lila". Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Columbus, OH, October 25, 2007.
- "Counter-Rhythms of Trance and Entertainment among the Gnawa of Morocco". Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC, December 4, 2005
- "Gimme the One Who's Going: Trance, Groove and Interaction on the Gnawa Ritual Floor". Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Tucson, AZ, November 2004.
- "Slavery's Past in the Musical Present: Ritual and Memory in the Moroccan Gnawa Lila". Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology Miami, Florida, October 5, 2003.
- "Where are you, Children of the Sudan?: The recollection of slavery in the lila ritual of the Gnawa of Morocco". Second International Conference on Slavery and Religion in the Modern Era, organized by Fondation Alizés, Nigerian Hinterland Project (York University and UNESCO), and the collaboration of Al-Akhawayn University. Essaouira, Morocco, June 2001.
- "The Gnawa Lila: Different Paths through a Sacred Geography". Invited presentation at the "Sacred Music and Aesthetics" conference, sponsored by American Institute for Maghrib Studies, Fez, Morocco, June 1999.
- "Musical Imagining in Morocco: The Voice of the Gnawa in the Music of Nas al-Ghiwan". Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Pittsburgh, PA, October 1997, and again at the Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, San Francisco, CA, Novermber 1997.
SELECTED COURSES TAUGHT
- "Musics of Africa, Middle East, Indian Subcontinent", UC Davis, Winter 2012
- "Music and Trance: Altered States, Alternative Expression", UC Berkeley, Summer 2011
- "Musical Dimensions of Islam: Islamic Practice, Muslim Expression", UC Berkeley, Spring 2011, Summer 2010, Spring 2008
- "Music of the Middle East", UC Berkeley, Fall 2009
- "Music of the Americas", University of San Francisco, Spring 2007
- "Music in American Cultures", UC Berkeley, Spring 1998, Spring 1999, Summer 2003
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"Improvisational Traditions of the World: Middle East & North Africa", San Jose State University, Spring 2000.