research overview
My research subjects include oud, the performance practice of Turkish makam, Karadeniz regional and local ethnic musics, Alevism, contemporary Turkish music, Turkish-American communities,
recording studios, audio engineering, aesthetic issues in electronic music, underground electronic dance music cultures, and Javanese gamelan.
I am also more broadly interested in theories of mediation, the use of organizational sociology in ethnomusicological analysis,
critically examining field methods employed in ethnographic practices, and developing collaborative bibliography projects that empower academic micro-communities.
Currently I am finishing my dissertation based on 2+ years of field research in Istanbul, Turkey, entitled
Interactions, Networks, and the Production of Digital Audio in an Istanbul Recording Studio.
My research was funded by a Fulbright IIE grant, as well as an ARIT State Department Fellowship.
I am also an elected member of the SEM Council,
an advisory council to the board of directors of the Society of Ethnomusicology.
Click here for a downloadable resume including teaching and research experience.
publications
2005 Review of You Better Work: Underground Dance Music in New York City by Kai Fikentscher. Ethnomusicology 49(2).
2004 "Glitches, bugs, and hisses: the degeneration of musical recordings and the contemporary musical work," in Bad Music: Music you Love to Hate, edited by Chris Washburne and Maiken Derno. New York: Routledge.
1997 Ambient Music. MA Thesis, Wesleyan University, 233 pages. Download it now:
conference papers
2008 NCCSEM: "Comfort and tea: institutional culture and aesthetic decision-making in the Turkish recording industry" [Winner of the Marnie Dilling Prize]
2007 SEM: "The arrangement and engineering of individual musicianship and group interaction in contemporary Turkish recordings"
2006 Orta Dogu Teknik Üniversitesi Halkbilim Toplulugu 45th conference: "Karadeniz Müzigi ve Karadeniz Yöresel Müziklerinin Karsilastirmali Teknik Analizi"
2006 The Art of Record Production (Edinburgh): "Studios, arrangement, and the distributed production system of contemporary Turkish music"
2003 IASPM-US: "Hisses, hums, and pops: Low Fidelity Aesthetics in Contemporary Popular Music"
2003 SEM/CMS: "Bi-musicality and Middle Eastern Musemes in Electronica Music"
2003 NCCSEM: "The Electric Orient: Bi-musicality and Middle Eastern Inflections in British Electronica"
1997 NECSEM: "Turkish Makams in Rebetika"
invited colloquia/lectures
2008 Academy Village, Tucson: "Folk music of Anatolia," a lecture/performance, with Ladi Dell'aira
2007 UC Berkeley colloquia in the musicologies: "The arrangement and engineering of individual musicianship and group interaction in contemporary Turkish recordings"
2006 Isik Üniversitesi (Sile): "Digital Audio Workstations and Changes to Turkish Music Performance Practice"
2006 American Research Institute of Turkey (Istanbul): "Ethnic and musical aspects and consequences of pan-Karadeniz popular music"
2004 Stanford University: "What can we know about Ancient Music?" An interactive multimedia presentation on ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, and Hurrian music.
2004 St. Mary's College, Moraga: "Sufism and Music in Turkish Islamic Society"
2003 UC Berkeley colloquia in the musicologies: "Hisses, Hums, and Pops: Low-Fidelity Aesthetics in Contemporary Popular Music"
1997 Wesleyan University colloquia series: "The Ambient Belief System: an Introduction"
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