My doctoral project (1997-2004) focused on the anthropology of djembe music. In particular, I investigated how the work and style of djembe drumming in the city of Bamako have changed in the context of urbanization, commercialization, nationalization, and globalization processes.
Two post-doctoral projects (2006-07, 2011-16) aimed to investigate music-theoretical questions using methods from empirical musicology and music cognition. Specifically, I developed a theory of swing-based meter in music from Mali.
Recently, I have used scientific methods to study tempo and ensemble synchronization in Malian
drumming, and cross-cultural variation in rhythm perception. As with my research on swing-based meter, this research was fundamentally based on my
collaboration with Justin London and Nori Jacoby.
I am very excited to move to Oslo and join the RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion in summer 2022. There I will develop a multidisciplinary research project that will use the example of djembe music and dance to investigate the cross-modal interaction and multimodal integration of rhythm performance and perception.