Michael Lindsey

Michael Lindsey is an ethnomusicologist and doctoral candidate at UCSC. His primary research focuses on the musical traditions of South Asia, with a specific interest in the performance practices of the tabla and Kabuli rabab. Michael entered the graduate program at UCSC in 2011 after working in the South Indian film music industry for the internationally-acclaimed composer, AR Rahman. From 2008-2011 Michael lived in Chennai, India where he worked as a studio musician, sound engineer, and music teacher.  In addition, he studied classical and folk percussion instruments with many acclaimed musicians in Chennai. His Master's thesis, titled "The Karnatik Tabla: Cross-Cultural Music Synthesis in South Indian Percussion Performance," discusses the evolutionary history of percussion ensembles within South Indian musical culture and examines how contemporary musicians in South India are incorporating the tabla into new performance spaces, necessitating new approaches to tabla performance practice and composition. His doctoral work focuses on the classical and non-classical styles of tabla and rubab performance practice, and the affects of modernity on Hindustani music culture and practice. From 2016-2017 Michael was a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar in India where he studied Qawwali and Sindhi Sufi percussion traditions. He was also a tabla disciple of Ustad Akram Khan of Ajrara gharana. In 2018 Michael continued his musical research in Kabul, Afghanistan. He studied the rubab with Ustad Din Mohammad Saqi, ghazal-style tabla playing with Ustad Fraidoon Miazada, and Pashtun-style tabla playing with Ustad Nazir Latif.