This Web page serves as a summation of the trajectory my life has taken, from a Moroccan youth to relocation in the U.S. In 2002, I parlayed my early education in qanun at the Conservatoire National de Musique et de Danse de Rabat into the formation of the Arabesque Music Ensemble, a professional touring ensemble which has performed throughout North America at venues ranging from Georgetown University to the Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal. 

 

Allied endeavors have included recording alongside many artists both from the US and the Middle East, releasing three award-winning CDs and founding the Heartland Seminars on Arab Music, an intensive program designed on the traditional mentorship model.

 

Gravitating toward Academe, I enrolled in Ethnomusicology studies at Columbia University in the City of New York in 2017, and have cultivated my research interest in Moroccan musics and their intersection with the forces of colonialism and post-colonial elite influence. As a doctoral fellow, I am responsible for teaching courses in Asian Humanities, and frequently present papers at conferences of SEM (Society for Ethnomusicology), ICTM (International Council for Traditional Music), and MESA (Middle East Studies Association). 

 

For my fieldwork in Morocco, I chose to study and experience the indigenous music culture of the Jebala region in the western Rif mountains—a peripheral area within the Kingdom. In the heart of a deeply stratified Moroccan cultural scene, my research delves deep into the enduring vitality of the Jebli musical heritage, grounding my narrative in the pivotal role of Jebli musicians as culture-bearers, highlighting how they give voice to these soundings from the periphery, reinforce communal identity, and instill pride in their listeners. 

 

Enrichment beyond Academe includes mountain climbing and running, pursuits which merge athletic challenges and pristine natural settings, with the Western states and New England particularly favored.