Welcome to my scholarly page. I am currently a Ph.D. candidate 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 I am currently writing a dissertation on the music of the Lila ceremony of the Gnawa of Marrakesh. I have taught and lectured extensively on a wide range of musical traditions of the Americas and and of the Middle East and North Africa.	SCHOLAR-ING	publications presentations teaching return to homepage
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS 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 "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. "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 "Musical Dimensions of Islam: Islamic Practice, Muslim Expression" UC Berkeley, Spring 2008 "Music of the Americas", University of San Francisco, Spring 2007 "Music in American Cultures" UC Berkeley, Spring 1998, Spring 1999, Summer 2003 "Basic Musicianship" UC Berkeley, Fall 1998 "Improvisational Traditions of the World: Middle East & North Africa", San Jose State University, Spring 2000.