African Composers

Gerhard Kubik: Cultural anthropologist, musicologist. He earned his Ph.D. in 1971 at the University of Vienna with a 4-volume dissertation on mukanda boys’ initiation in southern Angola based on his fieldwork. Habilitation in 1980 at the same university; extension of the habilitation in 1994 to include the study of African American cultures besides sub-Saharan Africa.

Research focus: Studies in Africa and the Americas of oral literature, music/dance, systems of traditional education, secret societies, and the psychology of culture contact. In five decades Gerhard Kubik has carried out a vast field research program in cultural anthropology and ethnomusicology across 18 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, in Brazil and the United States.

August Schmidhofer, is an assistant professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Vienna (Austria). He has conducted field research in Madagascar, Uganda and Mozambique and is the founder of the "Virtual Archive of Malagasy Music" www.avmm.org, editor of the “Vienna Series in Ethnomusicology” and co-editor of the book series “Vergleichende Musikwissenschaft”.

Moya Aliya Malamusi, born in Blantyre, Malawi. Cultural anthropologist/ ethnomusicologist; he earned his master’s degree in ethnology at the University of Vienna in 1999 with a work on Witchcraft and Healing Practice. A Culture and Personality Study of Traditional Healers in Southern Malawi. 2004 he earned his PhD. with the work: The Nyau Masking Tradition in Central and Southern Malawi. Field Observations 1983 – 2003 on Meanings, Social Context and Recent Developments. PhD. Dissertation, at Institut für Ethnologie, Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, University of Vienna.

Research focus: Anthropological and ethnomusicological fieldwork in several African countries, notably in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Uganda and Namibia, as well as in Brazil.

Alessandro Cosentino got his Ph.D. in Music History, Sciences and Techniques in 2013 at the Tor Vergata University of Rome where is currently adjunct professor in popular music. He is a member of the editorial staff of Etnografie Sonore / Sound Ethnographies journal. He took part as a speaker in national and international conferences, and he published papers regarding the guitar song composers from Malawi and Botswana and the liturgical musical prac­tices of the Christian immigrant communities in Rome. He is the author of the book Esengo. Pratiche musicali liturgiche nella chiesa congolese di Roma (2019). He is music teacher in Italian secondary schools.

For the project Biographies and work analyses of East/Central African composers (P 30718-G26) he conducted field research in Botswana in Gaborone, Maun and Ghanzi areas. He video and audio documented four-string guitar, setinkane lamellophone and musical bow (such as segaba) players and composers: A detailed list can be found here