Sound, Ritual, and Sensorium in Historic Architecture
On October 21st 2021, American Friends of Sufi Arts, Culture and Knowledge (AFSACK)™ hosted a Salon Conversation with Bissera Pentcheva (Professor of Medieval Art, Stanford University) and Peter McMurray (Lecturer in Ethnomusicology, University of Cambridge), moderated by Payam Yousefi (Harvard University, Music Department).
In recent years sensory studies have emerged as a lens of inquiry across academic disciplines presenting exciting insights for historians and ethnographers. This interdisciplinary discussion explores the intersection of sound studies, art history, and ethnomusicology. In this salon talk we discuss the works of our guest discussants Bissera Pentcheva and Peter McMurray, and explore how sensory studies can present new potentials in understanding the historical and contemporary.
Learn more about Bissera and Peter’s research:
How a Historian Stuffed Hagia Sophia’s Sound Into a Studio, New York Times, July 2020
Listen: The Sound Of The Hagia Sophia, More Than 500 Years Ago, NPR, February 2020
Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium, Penn State Press, 2017
McMurray, Peter. 2019. “Qur'an Alphabetics and the Timbre of Recitation [published online].” The Oxford Handbook of Timbre, edited by Emily Dolan and Alexander Rehding. Oxford University Press. Publisher's Version Abstract Qur'an Alphabetics - sample
Dr Peter McMurray, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge - Publications
