Thomas Burkhalter

Dr. Thomas Burkhalter [*1973], an ethnomusicologist, music journalist and cultural producer from Bern (Switzerland), runs the Post-Doc research project «Global Niches - Music in a transnational World» at the Zurich University of the Arts. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Norient - Network for Local and Global Sounds and Media Culture. He published the book «Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut» with Routledge (2013), and co-edited the book «The Arab Avant-Garde: Music, Politics, Modernity» with Kay Dickinson and Benjamin J. Harbert (November 2013). As an academic, journalist (for radio, print and online), organiser of the Norient Musikfilm Festival, and artist (audio-visual performances «Sonic Traces: From Switzerland», «Sonic Traces: From the Arab World») he is trying to gain more and more knowledge about the processes of musical practise and distribution in today's globalized, digitalized and urbanized world.

Links:

Norient: http://norient.com/

Updated Biography: http://norient.com/about/thomasburkhalter/