Publications | Afrological Perspectives

Afrological Perspectives on Timbre and Orchestration (ACTOR Speaker Series)

Spearheaded by ACTOR’s Sub-Saharan African and Afro-Diasporic subgroup, this speaker series aims to expand the ways we think about timbre and orchestration, diversify the music cultures ACTOR engages with, and to center the voices who know these traditions best. The series features a diverse mix of ethnomusicologists, theorists, performers, musicologists, and composers from both within the African continent and throughout the African diaspora. Their areas of expertise reflect the variety of Black musical practice; speakers present on traditional Zambian ceremony, bebop in the Civil Rights era, crunk and trap music, African American marching bands, neo-traditional African music, and Afro-Caribbean jazz. Speakers reflect on themes such as the gendering of timbre, critical race and timbre descriptors, embodied experience, sonic representation, and pan-diasporic orchestral aesthetics. Click each image below to access the corresponding presentation video.