the world of music (new series) vol. 13 (2024) 2

I studied Musicology (Christian Ahrens, Richard Widdess, Owen Wright) and Arabic and Islamic Studies (Gerhard Endreß, Stefan Reichmuth) at Ruhr University Bochum (Germany) and London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. Following the completion of my master’s degree at Bochum in 2004 and fieldwork in North India, I took up my doctoral studies. I received my doctoral degree from Ruhr University Bochum in 2007, having written my dissertation on the music and dance of Palau (Micronesia). I lived and conducted fieldwork in Palau from 2005 to 2008, after which I implemented a research project on the performing arts of the so-called sea-nomadic communities of the Southeast Asian island world, primarily the Sama Dilaut (Bajau Laut). I worked mostly in Borneo; my institutional affiliation was first with the International Institute for Asian Studies in Leiden (The Netherlands), and later with the University of Amsterdam. In March 2011, I was appointed full professor of cultural musicology at the Georg August University Göttingen (Germany). As of January 2012, I'm editor-in-chief of the world of music (new series) and full member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony.