Staff profile

Dr Simone Tarsitani is an ethnomusicologist and audiovisual specialist who has worked in academic teaching and research, artistic and music production contexts. He studied at the University of Rome 'Sapienza', where he was awarded his PhD in History and Analysis of Musical Cultures (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).

He has been teaching in the Music Department's Audiovisual Documentation and Analysis, Creative Music Technology, Introduction to Ethnomusicology, Studies in Popular Music modules. Since 2002 he has been involved in several international research projects and recently has been working for the AHRC projects 'Khyal: Music and Imagination' and 'Interpersonal Entrainment in Music Performance'. He is also consulting as audiovisual and digital archive specialist at the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies at the Giorgio Cini Foundation (Venice, Italy).

In August 2012 he was awarded a grant EAP602: 'Preservation of the audio recording collection in the Sherif Harar City Museum, Ethiopia' within 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 for the project "Documentation and analysis of manzuma in eastern Ethiopia", aiming at documenting and analysing manzuma, an Islamic poetry genre of Ethiopia. He has prepared a web resource about his Leverhulme Trust funded research on zikri rituals in Harar, Ethiopia.

Recent appointments include his position as Music Research Officer (2010-2013) at Durham University; Music Research Studio Officer (2009-2010) and a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Research Fellowship (2008-2009) at the Music Department (The Open University, UK); JSPS 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).

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

Chapter in book

• 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 (2007). 'Kabal'. In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 3. Uhlig, Sigbert Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag. 311.
• Tarsitani, Simone (2007). Mawlid in Harar. In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 3. Uhlig, Sigbert Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag. 879-880.
• 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 (2005). 'Zikri in Harar'. In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 2. Uhlig, Sigbert Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag. 158-159.
• Tarsitani, Simone (2002). 'Madonna alle porte del Terzo Millennio (Madonna at the beginning of the new Millennium)'. In Madonna. Fiore, C. Italy: L'Epos.

Conference Proceeding

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

Edited Journal

• 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 Article

• 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.
• 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.