About
I am a musician and ethnomusicologist living with my family in Lisbon, Portugal. I am currently a researcher in the Instituto de Etnomusicologia at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, having finished a PhD in ethnomusicology at UC Berkeley. I am interested in intersections between public festivities and social movements, and I've written especially about alternative brass bands and carnival in Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, San Francisco, Lisbon, and the global HONK! network. I am the author of Critical Brass, Postcolonial Intimacy, and coeditor of HONK!, At the Crossroads of Music and Social Justice, Festival Activism, and the Journal of Festive Studies. As a trumpeter, singer, guitarist, and pianist, I have played in a wide range of styles and ensembles, and I co-founded San Francisco’s Mission Delirium Brass Band. On this site, you can access my biography, publications, music, CV, media, and blog.

​Contact me at [email protected]

Photo credit: Jeff Spirer