SOAS University of London

Department of Music, School of Arts

Music Department Staff

Head of the School of Arts 

Professor Shane McCausland

Professor Lucy Durán
Professor of Music
Lucy Durán
Music in the Mande world; Music of Mali, Guinea, Guinea Bissau; gender and music in West Africa; popular musics of Atlantic Africa; childhood music learning in West Africa; Cuban music, especially son and rumba; radio as a medium; and the world music industry.
  • Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4374
  • Email: ld@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 596
  • Academic Support Hours: Tuesdays 1-3pm
Professor Rachel Harris
Professor of Ethnomusicology
Rachel Harris
Ethnomusicology; musics of China and Central Asia, especially Uyghur; Silk Road narratives; cultural and heritage policy, Islamic soundscapes; gender; minority rights and identity politics
  • Tel: 020 7898 4513
  • Email: rh@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 513
  • Academic Support Hours: Wed 10.30-11.30 online, Fri 10.30-11.30 in person
Professor Angela Impey
Professor of Ethnomusicology
Angela Impey
Music of southern Africa and the African Horn (Sudan); advocacy ethnomusicology; sound/music, memory and place; forced migration, cultural mapping and borderland identities; human rights and development
  • Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4433
  • Email: ai6@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 518
  • Academic Support Hours: Tuesdays, 13:00-15:00 (from Term 2)
Dr Saeid Kordmafi
Lecturer in Music
Saied Kordmafi

Music of the Islamic Middle East and Central Asia; Persian art music; classical music of the Arab Mashriq; music analysis: performance theory and practice-based research; rhythm and temporality; historical ethnomusicology; music revival.

  • Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4433
  • Email: sk152@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 518
  • Academic Support Hours: Thursdays 11-12 & 3-6 by email appointment
Dr Ilana Webster-Kogen
Joe Loss Senior Lecturer in Jewish Music
Ilana Webster-Kogen

Ethiopian music; music and religion in north Africa; Biblical cantillation; ritual and gender; Diaspora.

  • Tel: 0207 898 4334
  • Email: iw4@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 503
  • Academic Support Hours: Monday 9.30-10.30 and Friday 1-2pm
Dr Richard Williams
Senior Lecturer in Music and South Asian Studies
Richard Williams

Music of South Asia; Hindustani classical music; historical ethnomusicology; cultural history; historical musicology and musical aesthetics; lyric, song, and musical literature; music and gender; music and religion; history of emotions

Emeritus Staff

Professor Keith Howard
Emeritus Professor of Music
Keith Howard
Ethnomusicology; anthropology; Korean music; music traditions in Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Thailand, and Siberia; studies of religion; composition; education; shamanism; early keyboard instruments, players and restorers
Professor Richard Widdess
Emeritus Professor of Musicology
Richard Widdess

Historical, analytical, ethnographic and cognitive approaches to music of South Asia; music, cognition and language.

Professors of Practice and Global Community Fellows

Music Events and Support Staff

Teaching Fellows/GTAs

Mr Kadialy Kouyate
Senior Teaching Fellow
Kadialy Kouyate

Kadialy Kouyate comes from a very large African musical family of dialis, who are well known in Mandinka history. Since 2005 he has been teaching the Kora to undergraduate and postgraduate students at SOAS.

Mr Sanju Sahai
Senior Teaching Fellow (Performance)
Sanju Sahai
Sanju Sahai represents the distinguished lineage of tabla players and teachers from Banaras. He performs internationally as a soloist and in a variety of ensembles, and has been teaching tabla at SOAS for many years.

Research Associates/Visiting Scholars

Professor Rachel Beckles Willson
Professorial Research Associate
Rachel Beckles Willson

Migration, gender, musical composition, performance, history and politics. The oud. 19th to 21st-century Palestine, Hungary, and African migration to Europe.

Dr Nick Gray
Research Associate
Nick Gray

Music of South East Asia, Indonesia, Bali, especially music for the Balinese shadowplay; composition; improvisation; analysis; music and religion

Dr David W Hughes
Research Associate
David Hughes
Ethnomusicology; music of East Asia especially Japan; Japanese folk and theatre music; music and linguistics; Indonesian gamelan and Javanese street music