Abstract
In this presentation, I will outline the theoretical motivation, ethnographic context, research questions, and planned work steps of DJEMBEDANCE, a four-year research project on multimodal rhythm in djembe music and dance from Mali that will be conducted at RITMO beginning next year.
Bio
Rainer Polak is a researcher at the RITMO Center for Interdisciplinary Studies on Rhythm, Time and Movement, specializing in percussion and dance from Mali. After completing his ethnographic PhD on the professionalization of djembe playing in Bamako (Universität Bayreuth, 2002), he first worked as a djembe teacher for several years, but then returned to academia with an interest in the theory, science, and cultural variation of rhythm perception and production. Before joining RITMO this summer, he was researcher at the MPI for Empirical Aesthetics (2017–22) and at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (2011–16).