Music and identity in the Middle East and Central Asia

Venue: Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Site, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA, UK.

The London Uyghur Ensemble:

Performing Central Asian Muslim identity in China and in the UK

Lecture by Rachel Harris with live performance by members of the London Uyghur Ensemble. Rachel Harris is Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, where she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in ethnomusicology and on the music of Central Asia and China. She was co-editor of the journal ‘Ethnomusicology Forum’ between 2004 and 2007. Her book, ‘Singing the Village: memories, music and ritual amongst the Sibe of Xinjiang’ is published by Oxford University Press (2004). Her current research specialism is in Uyghur music; she has published on aspects of the music culture from ritual contexts to globalisation, pop and identity politics. She co-edited the cross-disciplinary volume ‘Situating the Uyghurs between China and Central Asia’ (Ashgate 2007), and her latest book is on the Uyghur Muqam: ‘The Making of a Musical Canon in Chinese Central Asia’ (Ashgate 2008). She has collaborated in the production of several CD recordings, and plays dutar with the London Uyghur Ensemble.