research overview
My topical research interests include: oud, Karadeniz popular music and local musics from the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey, Alevism, contemporary Turkish music, Turkish-American communities,
intonation and theorization of Ottoman and Turkish classical makam systems, recording studios, audio engineering, the practice of arrangement, aesthetic issues in electronic music, underground electronic dance music cultures,
and Central Javanese gamelan.
I am also more broadly interested in synesthesia and affect, the use of organizational sociology in ethnomusicological research and analysis,
critically examining field methods employed in ethnographic practices, and developing collaborative bibliography projects that empower academic micro-communities.
Currently I am writing several research articles and a book based on my multi-year, multi-sited research into Turkish recording studios, practices, and professionals.
My research was funded by a Fulbright IIE grant, as well as an ARIT State Department Fellowship.
I am also the secretary 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.
books
2010 Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford University Press (in review, expected publication: 09/2010).
publications: peer-reviewed
2010 "Mixing for Parlak and Bowing for a Büyük Ses: The Aesthetics of Arranged Traditional Music in Turkey." Ethnomusicology 54(1).
2009 "Ron's Right Arm: Tactility, Visualization, and the Synesthesia of Audio Engineering." Art of Record Production 4(i).
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.
publications: reviews
2010 Review of The World Map of Music: The Edison Phonograph and the Musical Cartography of the Earth by the Berlin Phonogram Archive. Ethnomusicology 54(2).
2005 Review of You Better Work: Underground Dance Music in New York City by Kai Fikentscher. Ethnomusicology 49(2).
publications: theses
2008 Social Interactions, Musical Arrangement, and the Production of Digital Audio in Istanbul Recording Studios. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California Berkeley ( click here for the abstract). grants and fellowships
2006-7 American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) Department of State Fellow
2005-6 Fulbright IIE Dissertation Research Grant, Turkey
2005-6 Turkish Ministry of Education Higher Education Grant
2004 FLAS Grant (Bogaziçi Üniversitesi Summer Language Program, intermediate level Turkish)
2003,7 UC Berkeley Department of Music Conference Travel Grant (SEM 2003, SEM 2007)
2002-8 UC Berkeley Department of Music Fellowship
1996 Wesleyan University Research Travel Grant (for travel to Turkey)
1990-4 UC Regents Scholar
conference papers
2009 "Social Collaborations and Meaning Production in Turkish-Speaking Publics."
American Anthropological Association 108th Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.
2009 "Technologies of Spirituality, Hi-tech-sponsored Communalism, and the Dialectics of Northern California's Electronic Dance Music Microcultures."
Middle Atlantic Chapter, Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, Richmond, VA.
2008 "Folkloric resources and the legitimation of innovative arranged recordings in Turkey."
Society for Ethnomusicology 53rd Annual Conference, Middletown, CT.
2008 "Comfort and tea: institutional culture and aesthetic decision-making in the Turkish recording industry."
Northern California Chapter, Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, Fremont, CA.
[Winner of the Marnie Dilling Prize]
2007 "The arrangement and engineering of individual musicianship and group interaction in contemporary Turkish recordings."
Society for Ethnomusicology 52nd Annual Conference, Columbus, OH.
2006 "Karadeniz Müzigi ve Karadeniz Yöresel Müziklerinin Karsilastirmali Teknik Analizi."
Orta Dogu Teknik Üniversitesi Halkbilim Toplulugu 45th Annual Meeting, Ankara, Turkey. Invited paper.
2003 "Hisses, hums, and pops: Low Fidelity Aesthetics in Contemporary Popular Music."
International Association for the Study of Popular Music, US Branch Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA.
2003 "Bi-musicality and Middle Eastern Musemes in Electronica Music."
Society for Ethnomusicology 48th Annual Conference, Miami, FL.
Chair, "Technology and Mediation" panel.
2003 "The Electric Orient: Bi-musicality and Middle Eastern Inflections in British Electronica."
Northern California Chapter, Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, Berkeley, CA.
1997 "Turkish Makams in Rebetika."
Northeast Chapter, Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, Middletown, CT.
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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