Dr. Subash Giri is a community-based multilingual and multi-instrumental musician, music educator, ensemble director, ethnomusicologist, and award-winning researcher. He is an Assistant Lecturer of Indian Music Ensemble (IME) at the Department of Music, University of Alberta. He received his PhD in Music (Ethnomusicology) from the University of Alberta, Canada. He also holds degrees in Hindustani Classical Voice (M MUS) from University of Nepal and Music Management (M MUS MGMT) from University of Agder, Norway.
Dr. Giri’s research focuses on South Asian diaspora in North America, particularly Canada and the United States, and South Asia, particularly in Nepal and India. His research interests include music and diasporic identity; community-based and collaborative research; music sustainability; music and community well-being; music and minority; music, human rights, and social justice; applied ethnomusicology; participatory ethnomusicology; and music business, and the music industry.
Dr. Giri’s research has received numerous international awards, grants, and fellowships. His doctoral research entitled “Traditional Music for Cultural Continuity, Sustainability and Community Well-Being: A Case Study of the Nepalese Diaspora Community in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada” received the prestigious Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) 21st Century Fellowship Award 2021, the Society for Asian Music (SAM) Graduate Student Small Grant Award 2021, and the Edmonton Consular Corps Award 2021. His doctoral research was nominated for the Canada’s Governor General’s Gold Medal––that is awarded to doctoral graduates for outstanding academic excellence and highest academic standing.
Dr. Giri has won several international paper prizes. His first paper entitled “Reconsidering Theory and Method in Minorities Research in Ethnomusicology: A Combined Approach of Applied Ethnomusicology and Participatory Action Research Paradigm,” presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), Ottawa, Canada, 2023 received “The Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy Paper Prize 2023.” His second paper entitled “Engaging Community in Creating an Ethnomusicology Archive: A Digital Community Archive Project in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,” presented at the 46th ICTM World Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, 2022 received the “Best Student Paper Prize 2022.” His third paper entitled “Three Ethnomusicological Intervention Projects in the Minority Nepalese Immigrant Community of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Community Empowerment, Cultural Sustainability, and Community Well-Being,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), Northwest Chapter, School of Music, University of British Columbia, 2023 awarded the “Thelma Adamson Best Paper Prize 2023.”
Dr. Giri’s first book, Music for Culture and Well-Being: Community Collaborative Participatory Musicking, Teaching, and Archiving in the Minority Nepalese Canadian Diaspora, is forthcoming from Indiana University Press. His research articles have been published in several international journals, including Traditions of Music and Dance (previously Yearbook for Traditional Music), South Asian Diaspora, International Journal of Traditional Arts, Genealogy, and International Journal of Music Business Research.
Dr. Giri has more than 20 years of experience in teaching music. Between 2006 to 2013, as a faculty member in the Department of Music at Tribhuvan University Nepal, he taught undergraduate courses in Nepalese traditional music. In the Fall semester of 2015, as a guest lecturer, he taught the course “Music of Nepal” to the undergraduate students of the World Music program led by professor Bjørn Ole Rash at the University of Agder, Kristiansand. At the University of Alberta, he is currently serving as an Assistant Lecturer. First, he taught the undergraduate course “Introduction to World Music” in Fall 2018 as a Teaching Assistant. Then, in May 2019, he started teaching courses in South Asian music as a principal instructor and taught in this position for two semesters––Spring/Summer and Fall term 2019.
Since Fall 2020, he has been working in an Assistant Lecturer position and teaching courses that offer an introduction to the music and culture of South Asia, aiming to widen undergraduate and graduate students’ horizons through a combination of academic and practical learning. His teaching philosophy is based on a decolonial approach to music and a commitment to critical pedagogy.
Dr. Giri is an accomplished music performer, composer, ensemble director, and concert director. He has been engaged in his artistic practice for the past 20 years. He specializes in Hindustani classical voice. He has expertise in singing Hindustani raga, Bollywood music, Ghazal, Sufi, Bhajan, Chants, Ginan, and Nepalese classical and traditional music.
He is also well-versed in playing the harmonium, tabla, Nepalese cylindrical hand drum ‘madal‘, guitar, and keyboard. He has performed extensively in numerous national and international concerts and festivals in Norway, Canada, and Nepal.
Dr. Giri is a community-based musician. He engages local community artists in collaborative musicking and promotes local art practices through public performances and teaching. He directs several local community ensembles and choirs, including the South Asian Music Ensemble (SAME) Edmonton, Nepalese Heritage Ensemble (NHE) Edmonton, and Edmonton Nepalese Youth and Children Choir (ENYCC).
Dr. Giri has a special knowledge and expertise in South Asian music and culture, particularly of India and Nepal. He offers lectures and workshops on the topics and areas of South Asian Music and Culture, Hindustani Classical Music (Origin and Historical Development), Raga and Taal System, Hindustani Notation System, Singing Styles (Khayal, Dhrupad, Dhamar, Thumri, Qawwali, Ghazal, Bhajan), and Nepalese Traditional music and drumming. Some of his invited lectures and workshop sessions are: “Madal: Nepalese Hand Drum,” Meadowlark Christian School, Edmonton, Canada (December 2024); “Don’t Stop the Rhythm: Drumming Nepalese Hand Drum in Canada,” Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Association (CFMTA) Conference, Edmonton, Canada (July 2024); “Let’s Drum Together: Introduction to a Unique Hand Drum of South Asia,” Music Conference Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (October 2022); “Bollywood Music,” Lilian Osborne High School (November 2022); and “Music of South Asia: Understanding Hindustani Raga System,” Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association (ARMTA), Calgary Branch, Calgary Canada (March 2021), to name but a few.
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