Academic Profile

Dr. Subash Giri (He/Him/His)

Assistant Lecturer (2020-2024), Department of Music, University of Alberta

Co-Chair, South Asian Performing Arts (SAPA), Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM)

Secretary, Early Career Scholars Network, International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD)

Education

PhD in Music, Ethnomusicology, University of Alberta, Canada, 2024

Master’s Degree in Music Management, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway, 2016

Master’s Degree in Music (M. Mus), Tribhuvan University, Nepal, 2010                  

Bachelor’s Degree in Music (B. Mus), Tribhuvan University, Nepal, 2006 

Research Interests

  • South Asian diaspora in North America (Canada and the United States), South Asia (Nepal and India)
  • 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
  • Music business, music industry, and copyright

Selected Awards and Distinctions

Book

Forthcoming. Music for Culture and Well-Being: Community Collaborative Participatory Musicking, Teaching, and Archiving in the Minority Nepalese Canadian Diaspora. Indiana University Press.

Selected Other Publication Highlights

Giri, Subash. in press. “Community Collaborative Participatory Archive (CCPA): Towards a New Archival Practice in Ethnomusicology.” Traditions of Music and Dance (Prior Yearbook for Traditional Music). (Expected 2025)

Giri, Subash. in press. “The Nepalese Diaspora in Canada: History, Diasporic Experiences, and Contemporary Issues.” Genealogy. (Expected 2025)

Giri, Subash. in press. “Sustainability by Othering Culture-Bearers?: An Inquiry into Shifting Current Music and Cultural Sustainability Practices in Ethnomusicology.” In Music and Sustainability, edited by Martin Ringsmut, Michael Fuhr, Mira Wöllenstein. University of Hildesheim Press. (Expected 2025)

Giri, Subash, and Catherine Grant. in press. “Music and Cultural Sustainability: Past, Present, and Future.” In Bloomsbury Handbook of Ethnomusicology, edited by Sarah Weiss, Sarah Morelli, and Rachel Ong. Bloomsbury Publishing (Expected 2025)

Giri, Subash. in press. “On the Quest for a Better Life: Post-Migration Issues and Challenges Among the Privileged Migrants in Canada.” In Privileged Migrants Across the Globe: Experiences of Inclusion, Exclusion, and Mobility, edited by Diotima Chattoraj. Routledge. (Expected 2025)

Giri, Subash. 2024. “Homeland Echoes: Music, Sound, and Devotion Among the South Asian Hindu Diaspora in Edmonton, Canada.” South Asian Diaspora 16, (1): 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/19438192.2023.2173419

Giri, Subash. 2023. “Women’s Oral Music Traditions in South Asia: A Stage for Voicing Critical Consciousness on Societal Dominant Practices.” Asian Journal of Social Science and Management Technology 5 (6): 129-39. https://www.ajssmt.com/Papers/56129139.pdf

Giri, Subash. 2022. “Participatory Ethnomusicology: An Epistemic Approach to Social Justice, Human Rights, and the Sustainability of the Traditional Arts of Minorities.” In “Social justice, human rights, and sustainability of traditional arts,” special issue, International Journal of Traditional Arts 4 (1): 1-23. https://tradartsjournal.ncl.ac.uk/index.php/ijta/article/view/54

Giri, Subash. 2022. “Engaging Communities in Research: Applied Ethnomusicology, Shared Knowledge Production and Cultural Empowerment in the Nepalese Diaspora Community of Edmonton, Canada.” Proceedings of the 7th Study Group Meeting of the ICTM Study Group on Applied Ethnomusicology. Performing, Engaging, Knowing: 1-16. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7274018

Giri, Subash. 2021. “Nepalese Diasporic Music in Canada: Representing, Reimagining, and Resonating Homeland.” Ethnomusicology Journal (Association of Ethnomusicology Turkey) 4 (1): 60-82. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/etnomuzikoloji/issue/61985/928485

Giri, Subash. 2021. “Digital Technologies and Music Digitisation: Challenges and Opportunities for the Nepalese Music Industry.” International Journal of Music Business Research 10 (2): 1-12. https://doi.org/10.2478/ijmbr-2021-0005

Book Reviews

Giri, Subash. 2024. Book Review of Musical Resilience: Performing Patronage in the Thar Desert, Shalini R. Ayyagari (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2022). Journal of Folklore Research Reviews. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/jfrr/article/view/40718/42781

Giri, Subash. 2021. Book Review of Music in the American Diasporic Wedding, Inna Naroditskaya (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2019). H-Celebration, H-Net Reviews: 2-4. https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=55659

Giri, Subash. 2020. Book Review of Singing Across Divides: Music and Intimate Politics in Nepal, Anna Marie Stirr (New York, Oxford University Press). Asian Music 51, No. 2 (summer/fall): 158-160. DOI:  doi:10.1353/amu.2020.0028

Giri, Subash, 2020. Book Review of Recasting Folk in the Himalaya: Indian Music, Media, and Social Mobility, Stefan Fiol (Urbana: University of Illinois Press). Yearbook for Traditional Music 52: 221-223. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ytm.2020.36

Other Publications

Giri, Subash. 2022. “Systematization of Non-Western Music Teaching in Canada: An Inquiry.” The Canadian Music Teacher 73 (3): 22-25. https://www.cfmta.org/docs/magazines/73-3.pdf

Giri, Subash. 2022. “Translation of ICTM Statement and Activities in View of Decolonization of Music and Dance Studies (English to Hindi).” International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD). https://www.ictmusic.org/documents/decolonization-music-dance-studies/hindi

Giri, Subash. 2022. “Translation of ICTMD Statement and Activities in View of Decolonization of Music and Dance Studies (English to Nepali).” International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD). https://www.ictmusic.org/documents/decolonization-music-dance-studies/nepali

Giri, Subash. 2021. “Non-Western (World) Music Teaching in Canada: Opening the Doors.” TEMPO, Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association: 11-12. https://armta.ca/prov18/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Tempo_2021_Aug12_WEBsmall-size.pdf

Giri, Subash and Anna Wright. 2021. “Writing: Approaches and Practices.” SEM Student News 16 (2): 38-41. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/publications/semsn_16-2.pdf

Giri, Subash. 2021. “Translation of CSTM’S CALL TO ACTION: Challenging Systemic Racism and Colonialism in Ethnomusicology in Canada (English to Nepali).” Canadian Society for Traditional Music: 1-2.

Giri, Subash. 2021. “Translation of Notes on the Musical Instruments of the Nepalese (English to Nepali).” A. Campbell (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal VI, Part II: 286-290). Archived in Music Museum of Nepal.

Giri, Subash and Anna Wright. 2020. “Theories in the Field and Classroom.” SEM Student News 16 (1): 48-52. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/publications/semsn16.1.pdf

Giri, Subash. 2018. “Music as an Identity: A Perspective on the Nepalese Community of Edmonton.” Connection: Voice of Nepalese Community, Nepalese Canadian society of Edmonton: 68-70.

Giri, Subash. 2018. “Music and Identity: Articulation of Nepalipan among the Nepalese Canadian Society of Edmonton.” Maple Ko Phed Bata, Nepali Literary Club of Alberta, Edmonton: 63-72.

Selected Invited Talks, Lectures, and Presentations

“Madal: Nepalese Hand Drum.” Invited talk and workshop session, Meadowlark Christian School, Edmonton, Canada, December 16, 2024.

“Let’s Drum Together: Introduction to a Unique Hand Drum of South Asia. Invited talk and workshop session, Music Conference Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, October 20-22, 2022.

“Academic Research.” Invited talk and workshop session, Music Museum of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal, June 3-4, 2022.

“Multi-cultural Music,” Invited presentation, Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association (ARMTA), Calgary Branch, Calgary Canada, March 10, 2021.

“Hindustani Music System: An Introduction.” Invited presentation, Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association (ARMTA), Edmonton Branch, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, February 25, 2021.

“Vedic Chant and Instrument of South Asia.” Invited talk, Nepalese Language and Heritage Centre (NLCC), Winnipeg, Canada, December 19, 2020.

“Music of Nepal,” Music 102, Guest lecture, Introduction to World Music, University of AB, November 1, 2017.              

“Madal: The most popular drum of Nepal.” Invited presentation, Noon Presentation, Sound Studies Initiatives, University of Alberta, January 18, 2017.

“Music of Nepal.” Guest Lecture, World Music, undergraduate course, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway, September-December, 2015.

© 2025 by Dr. Subash Giri | All Rights Reserved.