Staff

Dr Simone Tarsitani, PhD (Rome, Italy)

Music Research Officer in the Department of Music

ADAL Manager, Department of Music

Web Officer, Department of Music

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 43157

Room number: 105 (Queen's Court)

Contact Dr Simone Tarsitani (email at simone.tarsitani@durham.ac.uk)

Dr Simone Tarsitani is a Music Research Officer in Durham University. He studied ethnomusicology at the University of Rome "Sapienza", where he was awarded both his first degree (2001) and his PhD (2006). His earlier studies include music theory and piano (Conservatories of Rome and Latina, Italy), and technologies applied to music (Department of New Technologies, Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale, Saluzzo, Italy, 1997/98).

In August 2012 he was awarded a Major project grant (£17,292) EAP602: 'Preservation of the audio recording collection in the Sherif Harar City Museum, Ethiopia' in the scheme Endangered Archives Programme, sponsored by Arcadia and administered by the British Library. In July 2011 he was awarded a British Academy Small Research Grant (£7,337) for the project "Documentation and analysis of manzuma in eastern Ethiopia", aiming at documenting and analysing manzuma, an Islamic poetry genre of Ethiopia. In addition, he is currently involved in the AHRC-funded research projects Experience and Meaning in Music Performance and The Reception of Performance in North Indian Classical Music. He recently prepared a web resource about his Leverhulme Trust funded research on zikri rituals in Harar, Ethiopia.

His responsibilities include the management of ADAL - Audiovisual Documentation and Analysis Laboratory.

Other recent appointments include his position as Music Research Studio Officer (2009-2010) and a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Research Fellowship (2008-2009) at the Music Department (The Open University, UK); Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies (Kyoto University, Japan, 2006-2008); lectureship in ethnomusicology at the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies (Kyoto University, Japan, 2008); occasional lectureship in various Italian universities; participation in the UNESCO/Norway Funds-in-Trust Project "Ethiopia - Traditional music, dance and instruments" (2005-2008); sound archivist (digitization, restoration, editing and archival of recorded sound) at the Audio laboratory, Department of Glotto-anthropological Studies and Musical Subjects ("Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy, 2006); and archivist of intangible cultural heritage (Lazio Region, Italy, 2005).

Research Interests

Music technology
Audiovisual documentation and analysis
Digital archives
African music
Ritual music
Popular music

Publications

Edited works: contributions

Tarsitani, Simone (2007). 'Kabal'. In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 3. Uhlig, Sigbert Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag. 311.
Tarsitani, Simone (2007). 'Karabu'. In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 3. Uhlig, Sigbert Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag. 341-342.
Tarsitani, Simone (2007). 'Musical intruments'. In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 3. Uhlig, Sigbert Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag. 169-173.
Tarsitani, Simone (2007). Mawlid in Harar. In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 3. Uhlig, Sigbert Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag. 879-880.
Tarsitani, Simone (2005). 'Zikri in Harar'. In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 2. Uhlig, Sigbert Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag. 158-159.

Essays in edited volumes

Tarsitani, Belle Asante & Tarsitani, Simone (2010). Integrating local knowledge in Ethiopian archives: Music and manuscripts in the collection of Abdulahi Ali Sherif. In African Study Monographs; Supplementary Issue 41. Tarsitani, Belle Asante, Tarsitani, Simone & Shigeta, Masayoshi Kyoto: Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University. Supplementary Issue 41: 5-18.
Tarsitani, Simone (2002). 'Madonna alle porte del Terzo Millennio (Madonna at the beginning of the new Millennium)'. In Madonna. Fiore, C. Italy: L'Epos.

Edited works: conference proceedings

Tarsitani, Simone (2006). 'Zikri Rituals in Harar: a Musical Analysis'.

Edited works: journals

Tarsitani, Belle Asante, Tarsitani, Simone & Masayoshi, Shigeta (2010). Preserving Local Knowledge in the Horn of Africa: Challenges and prospects for collaborative research in oral literature, music and ritual practices. African Study Monographs, (Supplementary Issue 41): Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University.

Journal papers: academic

Tarsitani, Simone (2011). 'Melodic analysis of the performance of Islamic hymns in Harar, Ethiopia'. Musikè. International Journal of Ethnomusicological Studies 5/6: 95-110.
Tarsitani, Simone (2008). 'Mawlūd: celebrating the birth of the Prophet in Islamic religious festivals and wedding ceremonies in Harar, Ethiopia'. Annales d'Ethiopie 23: 153-176.
Tarsitani, Simone (2006). 'Musica religiosa islamica a Harar (Etiopia): i rituali di zikri (Islamic religious music in Harar – Ethiopia: the zikri rituals)'. EM Rivista degli Archivi di Etnomusicologia 2: 127-148.

Journal papers: professional

Tarsitani, Simone (2001). 'Sax soprano dritto e curvo: due timbri a confronto (Curved and straight soprano saxophones: comparison between timbres)'. I Fiati 24-29.
Tarsitani, Simone (2000). 'I plug-in audio (Plug-ins for audio software)'. I Fiati 37: 28-37.
Tarsitani. Simone (2000). 'I software di audio editing (Audio editing software)'. I Fiati 33: 24-31.
Tarsitani, Simone (1999). 'Computer Music: software di notazione (Music notation software)'. I Fiati 32: 24-31.