Research
My research explores rhythm, lyrics, and intercultural songwriting, connecting musical and textual analysis with composition, recording and performance.
Current project
Rhythm, groove and microrhythm
A central strand of my current work concerns rhythmic feel: how the timing, articulation and interaction of musical parts shape our experience of rhythm and groove.
In collaboration with Yorgos Evangelou, I am investigating microrhythmic features of zeïbékiko through close listening and analysis of recorded performances. We examine timing within its nine-beat cycle, considering how performed rhythms relate to notated patterns and how those relationships vary between recordings.
I also explore rhythmic transformation in songwriting, including relationships between zeïbékiko, blues and shuffle feels. These questions connect detailed observations about timing with broader considerations of metre, interpretation and stylistic interaction.
Explore the rhythm project: The Zeïbékiko Under the Microscope ↗
Intercultural songwriting and analysis
My PhD at Bath Spa University, completed in 2024, investigated how blues, jazz, rock, and rebetiko can interact through songwriting. The practice-led project, Blending rebetiko with blues, jazz, and rock: intercultural songwriting and analysis, combined original compositions and recordings with detailed musical analysis.
Moving between songwriting and analysis allowed me to explore the decisions, possibilities and tensions involved in intercultural creative practice. My analyses consider lyrics alongside melody, harmony, rhythm, form and performance, examining how words and music work together to construct meaning.
Language is also a site of intercultural experimentation in my work. I have undertaken lyric analysis, translation, transliteration and transcreation, alongside writing bilingual songs and lyrics that draw on cross-cultural slang. These practices raise questions about how meaning, humour, cultural references and the sound of language travel between musical and linguistic contexts.
This approach continues to inform my work. I am interested in how musical connections emerge through practice, and how analysis can describe those connections while remaining attentive to the histories and conventions of the traditions involved.
Developing research
Music, technology and categorisation
My developing research interests bring musical analysis into dialogue with computational methods and the organisation of music on digital platforms.
Building on my backgrounds in music and computer science, I am interested in how computational descriptions of music relate to musicians' and researchers' interpretations. Intercultural music raises particular questions here: how do analytical tools and genre categories account for music that draws on several traditions, and what might their descriptions overlook?
This emerging direction also considers how metadata and platform classifications affect the ways music is represented and discovered.
Publications and enquiries
My publications examine topics including fingerstyle rebetiko, DIY musical cultures and intercultural songwriting. Full references and links are available on the Publications page.
For research collaborations, conference contributions or related enquiries, please get in touch through the Contact page.