- E-mailThomas.Solomon@uib.no
- Phone+47 55 58 69 82
- Visitor AddressLars Hilles gate 35015 Bergen
- Postal AddressPostboks 78005020 Bergen
History and theory of ethnomusicology
Popular Music Studies
Turkish popular musics
Rap music and hip-hop youth culture
Music and place
Music and diaspora
Postcolonialism
Indigenous music of the Bolivian Andes
Courses in the MA program in ethnomusicology and musicology
BA course "Music in World Cultures"
BA course "Popular Music Studies"
BA course "Musikk, kultur og samfunn"
Program coordinator for MA in ethnomusicology and musicology
- (2017). Who are the Laz? Cultural identity and the musical public sphere on the Turkish Black Sea coast. The world of music (Wilhelmshaven). 83-113.
- (2016). The Play of Colors: Staging Multiculturalism in Norway. Dansk Musikforskning Online. 187-201.
- (2016). "The land of our origin": Music and history in the Norway-Azerbaijan Connection. Yearbook for Traditional Music. 115-135.
- (2015). Theorizing diaspora and music. Lidé města. 201-219.
- (2015). Self-censorship as Critique: The Case of Turkish Rapper Sagopa Kajmer. Dansk Musikforskning Online. 37-53.
- (2012). Theory and Method in Popular Music Analysis: Text and Meaning. Studia Musicologica Norvegica. 86-108.
- (2011). "Türkçe Rapın Kız Sesi": Ayben'in Müziğinde Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Vokal Nitelik. Porte akademik. 413-423.
- (2009). Berlin-Frankfurt-Istanbul: Turkish Hip-Hop in Motion. European Journal of Cultural Studies. 305-327.
- (2008). Music as Culture? Reflections on an Ethnomusicological Moment. Studia Musicologica Norvegica. 68-90.
- (2006). Hardcore Muslims: Islamic themes in Turkish rap in diaspora and in the homeland. Yearbook for Traditional Music. 59-78.
- (2005). 'Living underground is tough': authenticity and locality in the hip-hop community in Istanbul, Turkey. Popular Music. 1-20.
- (2005). "Listening to Istanbul": Imagining Place in Turkish Rap Music. Studia Musicologica Norvegica. 46-67.
- (2004). Musikalske konstruktioner af sted og identitet i Bolivias højland. Jordens Folk. 48-53.
- (2000). Dueling landscapes: Singing places and identities in highland Bolivia. Ethnomusicology. 257-280.
- (1994). Coplas de Todos Santos in Cochabamba: Language, music, and performance in Bolivian Quechua song dueling. Journal of American Folklore. 378-414.
- (2022). Postcolonialism and Music Studies: Issues, Challenges, Prospects .
- (2022). Music and Displacement: Making Sense of a Terminological "Mess".
- (2019). The musical aestheticization of exile: Zaza (Kurdish-Alevi) musicians between Turkey and Germany.
- (2019). Reflections on music and exile: Experience, aesthetics, and the present-absence.
- (2019). Music and the body: From cognition to performance.
- (2018). The Play of Colors: Staging Multiculturalism in Norway .
- (2018). Reflections on music and exile: Experience, aesthetics, and the present-absence.
- (2018). Reflections on music and exile.
- (2018). Postcolonial Discourse and Musical Performance: Mimicry and Ambivalence in the Bolivian Andes .
- (2017). Who are the Laz? Music and cultural identity on the Turkish Black Sea coast.
- (2017). Voices from the margins: Minorities and musical activism in Turkey.
- (2017). Transculturality, Hybridity and Music: From Aesthetics to Politics and Back Again.
- (2017). The Land of Our Origin: Music and History in the Norway–Azerbaijan Connection.
- (2017). Reflections on music and exile: Experience, aesthetics, and the present-absence .
- (2017). Postcolonialism and ethnomusicology: Issues, challenges, and prospects.
- (2016). Who are the Laz? Ethnicity and the musical public sphere on the Turkish Black Sea coast.
- (2016). The play of colors: Staging multiculturalism in Norway.
- (2016). The play of colors: Staging multiculturalism in Norway.
- (2016). The musical aestheticization of exile: Zaza (Kurdish-Alevi) musicians between Turkey and Germany.
- (2016). "The land of our origin": Music, time and space in the Norway-Azerbaijan connection.
- (2015). The play of colors: Staging multiculturalism in Norway.
- (2015). The play of colors: Staging multiculturalism in Norway.
- (2015). On playing badly: Non-outstanding performers and the construction of ethnomusicological knowledge.
- (2015). Music and race in American cartoons: Multimedia, subject position, and the racial imagination.
- (2014). Theorizing music and diaspora.
- (2014). The play of colors: Staging multiculturalism in Norway.
- (2014). The girl's voice in Turkish rap: Gender and vocality in the music of Ayben [invited keynote speech].
- (2014). Reflections on music and exile.
- (2014). Music in the Norway-Azerbaijan Connection: Distant Neighbors, Imagined Pasts.
- (2014). Music and ritual: Ethnomusicological perspectives.
- (2014). Music and Race in American Cartoons.
- (2013). “Listening to Istanbul”: Imagining Place in Turkish Rap Music.
- (2013). Music and Race in American Cartoons.
- (2013). Dancing the Landscape: Music and Movement in a Highland Bolivia Pilgrimage.
- (2013). "His Bird Doesn't Stand Up": Gendered Dimensions of Music Censorship in Turkey.
- (2012). Self-censorship as critique: The case of Turkish rapper Sagopa Kajmer.
- (2012). Reflections on music and exile.
- (2012). Music and identity: Text, performance, embodiment.
- (2012). Ethnic and racial stereotypes in American cartoons.
- (2012). Competition, performance interaction and society in Highland Bolivia.
- (2012). Azeri rap music and oral poetry between tradition and modernity.
- (2012). "The girl's voice in Turkish rap": Gender and vocality in the music of Ayben. [Invited keynote speech.].
- (2011). “The Girl’s Voice in Turkish Rap”: Vocality and the Patriarchal Bargain in the Life and Music of Ayben.
- (2011). “His Bird Doesn't Stand Up": Censoring the Female Rapping Voice in Turkey.
- (2011). When media fail.
- (2011). Theorizing music and diaspora.
- (2011). Performing indigeneity: Aesthetics and politics of folkloric festivals in highland Bolivia.
- (2011). "His bird doesn't stand up": Censorship of the female rapping voice in Turkey.
- (2010). Turkish hip-hop in motion.
- (2010). On playing badly and the limits of musical knowledge.
- (2010). "The girl's voice in Turkish rap": Gender, vocality and subjectivity in the life and music of Ayben.
- (2010). "The girl's voice in Turkish rap": Gender and subjectivity in the life and music of Ayben.
- (2009). Where is the postcolonial in ethnomusicology?
- (2009). The Oriental Body on the European Stage: Producing Turkish Cultural Identity on the Margins of Europe.
- (2009). Performing indigeneity: Aesthetics and politics of folkloric festivals in highland Bolivia.
- (2009). Hardcore Muslims: Islamic Themes in Turkish Rap between Diaspora and Homeland.
- (2009). Ethnomusicological Perspectives on Improvisation.
- (2009). Berlin-Frankfurt-Istanbul: Turkish Hip-Hop in Motion.
- (2009). Berlin-Frankfurt-Istanbul: Turkish Hip-Hop in Motion.
- (2009). "The girl's voice in Turkish rap": Gender and vocality in the music of Ayben.
- (2008). Who are the Laz? Music and cultural Identity on the Turkish Black Sea Coast.
- (2008). Hardcore Muslims: Islamic themes in Turkish rap between diaspora and homeland.
- (2008). "The girl's voice in Turkish rap": Gender, poetics & difference.
- (2007). Whose diaspora? Lessons from "Turkish Rap" in Germany.
- (2007). Whose diaspora? Hybrid identities in "Turkish Rap" in Germany.
- (2007). Whose diaspora? Hybrid identities in "Turkish Rap" in Germany.
- (2007). Hardcore Muslims: Islamic themes in Turkish rap in diaspora and in the homeland.
- (2007). Every way that I can? Turkey and the Eurovision Song Contest.
- (2007). Diverse diasporas: Multiple identities in "Turkish Rap" in Germany.
- (2006). Whose hybridity? Whose diaspora? Agency and identity in transnational musics.
- (2006). Transformations of Turkish hip-hop nationalism, from diaspora to the homeland.
- (2006). Berlin-Frankfurt-Istanbul: Local, trans-local, and global imaginaries in Turkish hip-hop.
- (2016). Conference report: XXXII European Seminar in Ethnomusicology. Musikk og tradisjon. 127-129.
- (2014). Conference report: 8th International Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music and Minorities, 19-23 July, 2014, Osaka, Japan. Musikk og tradisjon. 137-138.
- (2013). Conference report: 29th meeting of the European Seminar in Ethnomusicology (ESEM), 4-8 September 2013. Musikk og tradisjon. 121-122.
- (2012). Conference report: Seventh Meeting of the ICTM Study Group Music and Minorities, 7–12 August 2012, Zefat, Israel. Musikk og tradisjon. 160-161.
- (2019). Review of War, Exile and the Music of Afghanistan: The Ethnographer's Tale, by John Baily. Journal of Folklore Research.
- (2019). Review of The Oxford Handbook of Popular Music in the Nordic Countries, edited by Fabian Holt and Antti-Ville Kärjä. Studia Musicologica Norvegica. 99-101.
- (2017). Review of "The African Imagination in Music" by Kofi Agawu. The world of music (Wilhelmshaven). 125-129.
- (2015). Review of Philip V. Bohlman (ed.), The Cambridge History of World Music. The world of music (Wilhelmshaven). 110-115.
- (2015). Review of "Gentleman Troubadours and Andean Pop Stars: Huayno Music, Media Work, and Ethnic Imaginaries in Urban Peru," by Joshua Tucker. Ethnomusicology. 158-161.
- (2014). Review of Creating Global Music in Turkey, by Koray Değirmenci. Popular Music. 365-367.
- (2013). Review of Turkish Metal: Music, Meaning, and Morality in a Muslim Society, by Pierre Hecker. International Journal of Turkish Studies. 225-228.
- (2012). Review of "Youth, Music and Creative Cultures: Playing for Life" by Geraldine Bloustien and Margaret Peters. Social Analysis: The International Journal of Anthropology. 148-149.
- (2012). Review of "The Republic of Love: Cultural Intimacy in Turkish Popular Music" by Martin Stokes. Popular Music. 190-192.
- (2012). Review of "Songs from the Thrice-Blooded Land: Ritual Music of the Toraja (Sulawesi, Indonesia)" by Dana Rappoport. Social Analysis: The International Journal of Anthropology. 146-148.
- (2012). Review of "Opera Indigene: Re/presenting First Nations and Indigenous Cultures," edited by Pamela Karantonis and Dylan Robinson. Journal of Folklore Research.
- (2012). Review of "Musicological Identities: Essays in Honor of Susan McClary," edited by Baur, Knapp and Warwick. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008. 264 pp. ISBN: 9780754663027. Popular Music. 510-514.
- (2011). Review of "Sailing on the Sea of Love: The Music of the Bauls of Bengal," by Charles Capwell. Journal of Folklore Research.
- (2009). Among the Jasmine Trees: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Syria, by Jonathan Holt Shannon. Popular Music. 437-438.
- (2008). Music and the Poetics of Production in The Bolivian Andes, by Henry Stobart. Journal of Latin American Studies. 376-378.
- (2015). African Musics in Context: Institutions, Culture, Identity. Fountain Publishers.
- (2012). Ethnomusicology in East Africa: Perspectives from Uganda and Beyond. Fountain Publishers.
- (2011). Music and Identity in Norway and Beyond. Essays Commemorating Edvard Grieg the Humanist. Fagbokforlaget.
- (2021). Made in Almanya: The Birth of Turkish Rap. 11 pages.
- (2020). Dancing the Landscape: Music, Place, Collective Memory, and Identity in a Highland Bolivia Pilgrimage. 22 pages.
- (2018). Azerbaijani Rap Music and Oral Poetry Between "the Folk" and "the Popular". 23 pages.
- (2017). 'His Bird Doesn't Stand Up': Gendered Dimensions of Music Censorship in Turkey. 22 pages.
- (2015). Theorising Diaspora, Hybridity and Music. 42 pages.
- (2015). Introduction. 1 pages.
- (2014). Performing Indigeneity: Poetics and Politics of Music Festivals in Highland Bolivia. 21 pages.
- (2014). Music and Race in American Cartoons: Multimedia, Subject Position, and the Racial Imagination. 25 pages.
- (2013). The oriental body on the European stage: producing Turkish cultural identity on the margins of Europe. 29 pages.
- (2013). Ayben: "The girl's voice in Turkish rap". 19 pages.
- (2012). Where is the Postcolonial in Ethnomusicology? 36 pages.
- (2011). Whose Diaspora? Hybrid Identities in "Turkish Rap" in Germany. 15 pages.
- (2011). Introduction. 26 pages.
- (2011). Hardcore Muslims: Islamic Themes in Turkish Rap between Diaspora and Homeland. 27 pages.
- (2009). "Türkçe Rapin Kız Sesi": Ayben'in Müziğinde Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Vokal Nitelik. 13 pages.
- (2008). Diverse Diasporas: Multiple identities in 'Turkish Rap' in Germany. 12 pages.
- (2008). 'Bu Vatan Bizim' ['This Land is Ours']: Nationalist Discourse in Turkish Rap Music. 19 pages.
- (2007). Articulating the Historical Moment: Turkey, Europe, and Eurovision 2003. 11 pages.
- (2006). Dueling landscapes: Singing places and identities in highland Bolivia. 17 pages.
- (2006). Quechua. 208-216. In:
- (2006). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife, volume 4: North and South America.
- (2018). Review of Digital tradition: arrangement and labor in Istanbul's recording studio culture, by Eliot Bates. Ethnomusicology Forum. 111-113.
- (2012). Introduction. xiv-xvi.
More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)
Books edited:
2011. Music and Identity in Norway and Beyond: Essays Commemorating Edvard Grieg the Humanist. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.
2012. (co-edited with Sylvia Nannyonga-Tamusuza). Ethnomusicology in East Africa: Perspectives from Uganda and Beyond. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.
Journal articles and book chapters (reverse chronological order):
2021. "Made in Almanya: The Birth of Turkish Rap." In Made in Germany: Studies in Popular Music, ed. Oliver Seibt, Martin Ringsmut, and David-Emil Wickstršm, 111-121. New York: Routledge.
2020. "Dancing the Landscape: Music, Place, Collective Memory, and Identity in a Highland Bolivia Pilgrimage." In Cultural Mapping and Musical Diversity, ed. Britta Sweers and Sarah M. Ross, 123-144. Sheffield: Equinox.
2018. "Azerbaijani Rap Music and Oral Poetry Between 'the Folk' and 'the Popular.'" In Turkic Soundscapes: From Shamanic Voices to Hip-Hop, ed. Razia Sultanova and Megan Rancier, 77-99. London: Routledge.
2017. "'His Bird Doesn't Stand Up': Gendered Dimensions of Music Censorship in Turkey." In Researching Music Censorship, ed. Annemette Kirkegaard, Helmi Järviluoma, Jan Sverre Knudsen and Jonas Otterbeck, 138-159. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2017. "Who Are the Laz? Cultural Identity and the Musical Public Sphere on the Turkish Black Sea Coast." The World of Music (new series) 6(2):83-113.
2016. "'The Land of our Origin': Music and History in the Norway-Azerbaijan Connection." Yearbook for Traditional Music 48:115-135. (Link will only work from computers inside the network of an institution that subscribes to JSTOR.)
2016. "The Play of Colors: Staging Multiculturalism in Norway." Danish Musicology Online, Special Edition - 17th Nordic Musicological Congress, pp. 187-201.
2015. "Theorizing Diaspora and Music." Urban People 17(2):201-219.
2015. "Self-censorship as Critique: The Case of Turkish Rapper Sagopa Kajmer." Danish Musicology Online, special issue "Researching Music Censorship," pp. 37-53.
2015. "Theorising Diaspora, Hybridity and Music." In African Musics in Context: Institutions, Culture, Identity, ed. Thomas Solomon, 319-360. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.
2014. "Music and Race in American Cartoons: Multimedia, Subject Position, and the Racial Imagination." In Music and Minorities from Around the World: Research, Documentation and Interdisciplinary Study, ed. Ursula Hemetek, Essica Marks and Adelaida Reyes, 142-166. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2014. "Performing Indigeneity: Poetics and Politics of Music Festivals in Highland Bolivia." In Soundscapes from the Americas: Ethnomusicological Essays on the Power, Poetics, and Ontology of Performance, ed. Donna A. Buchanan, 143-163. Farnham: Ashgate.
2013. "The Oriental Body on the European Stage: Producing Turkish Cultural Identity on the Margins of Europe." In Empire of Song: Europe and Nation in the Eurovision Song Contest, ed. Dafni Tragaki, 173-201. Lanham: Scarecrow Press.
2013. "Ayben: 'The Girl's Voice in Turkish Rap.'" In Women Singers in Global Contexts: Music, Biography, and Identity, ed. Ruth Hellier, 73-91. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
2012. "Theory and Method in Popular Music Analysis: Text and Meaning." Studia Musicologica Norvegica 38:86-108.
2012. "Where is the Postcolonial in Ethnomusicology?" In Ethnomusicology in East Africa: Perspectives from Uganda and Beyond, ed. Sylvia Nannyonga-Tamusuza and Thomas Solomon, 216-251. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.
2011."Whose Diaspora?: Hybrid Identities in 'Turkish Rap' in Germany." In Music and Identity in Norway and Beyond: Essays Commemorating Edvard Grieg the Humanist, ed. Thomas Solomon, 253-267. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.
2011. "Hardcore Muslims: Islamic Themes in Turkish Rap between Diaspora and Homeland." In Muslim Rap, Halal Soaps, and Revolutionary Theater: Artistic Developments in the Muslim World, ed. Karin van Nieuwkerk, 27-54. Austin: University of Texas Press. [Revised version of 2006 article below.]
2010. "The Local and the Global in Turkish Rap Music: A View from Istanbul." Porte Akademik 1(1):242-252.
2009. "Berlin-Frankfurt-Istanbul: Turkish Hip-Hop in Motion." European Journal of Cultural Studies 12(3):305-327.
2008. "Music as Culture? Reflections on an Ethnomusicological Moment." Studia Musicologica Norvegica 34:68-90.
2008. "Diverse Diasporas: Multiple identities in 'Turkish Rap' in Germany." In Music from Turkey in the Diaspora, ed. Ursula Hemetek and Hande Sağlam, 77-88. Vienna: Institut für Volksmusikforschung und Ethnomusikologie.
2008. "'Bu Vatan Bizim' ['This Land is Ours']: Nationalist Discourse in Turkish Rap Music." In Freedom and Prejudice: Approaches to Media and Culture, ed. Süheyla Kırca Schroeder and LuEtt Hanson, 204-222. Istanbul: Bahçeşehir University Press.
2007. "Articulating the Historical Moment: Turkey, Europe, and Eurovision 2003." In A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest,ed. Ivan Raykoff and Robert Tobin, 135-145. Aldershot: Ashgate.
2006. "Hardcore Muslims: Islamic Themes in Turkish Rap in Diaspora and in the Homeland." Yearbook for Traditional Music 38:59-78.
2006. "Quechua." In The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife. Volume 4: North and South America, ed. William M. Clements, 208-216. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
2006. "Dueling Landscapes: Singing Places and Identities in Highland Bolivia." In Ethnomusicology: A Contemporary Reader, ed. Jennifer Post, 311-327. London: Routledge. [Revised version of 2000 article below.]
2005. "'Listening to Istanbul': Imagining Place in Turkish Rap Music." Studia Musicologica Norvegica 31:46-67.
2005. "'Living Underground is Tough': Authenticity and Locality in the Hip-hop Community in Istanbul, Turkey." Popular Music 24(1):1-20. University Press.
2004. "Musikalske Konstruktioner af Sted og Identitet i Bolivias Højland" ["Musical Constructions of Place and Identity in Highland Bolivia"]. Jordens Folk 39(3):48-53.
2000. "Dueling Landscapes: Singing Places and Identities in Highland Bolivia." Ethnomusicology 44(2):257-280.
1995. "Creando Etnicidad por Medio de la Música en el Norte de Potosí." Anales de la Reunión Anual de Etnología 1993, Tomo II. La Paz, Bolivia: Museo Nacional de Etnología y Folklore, pp.47-76.
1994. "Coplas de Todos Santos in Cochabamba: Language, Music, and Performance in Bolivian Quechua Song Dueling." Journal of American Folklore 107(425):378-414.
Ethnomusicology
Popular Music Studies
Critical musicology