Dr Salvatore Morra

Salvatore Morra is a musicologist, guitarist and oud player. His research focuses primarily on ethnomusicological perspectives of Arab music and interdisciplinary debates around post-colonial nationalism, muticulturalism and decoloniality, especially in Tunisia and the Maghreb, including popular culture, liturgy, sound and media and he has recently completed a book Maluf, Suoni dal Mediterraneo Arabo. Other research interests include the global histories of music, histories of audiovisual media, musical instrument histories and intersections of sound and space. His ethnographic research includes extensive non-fiction audio and video work.

For over 5 years he has been working as the Music Curator of ISMEO - The International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies and he continues to promote study, research and musical collaboration related to countries of Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean. From 2019-2022, he established the "Oriental Music Conversations" online seminar at ISMEO. Since 2024 he is the vice-chair of the ICTMD Study Group on Mediterranean Music Studies. As a performer, he has recorded two albums of classical guitar repertoire (L'Alba, Adoro Records 2006; Luis Milan: El Maestro, Draftonline 2012), and he has a longstanding interest in maqams, modal music and experimental improvisation. He is also part of the Maluf System, a post-revival mouvement of Tunisian music.

He completed a PhD in Music at Royal Holloway University of London, with primary emphasis on the Tunisian oud 'arbi. He also holds degrees in music performance (MA, Conservatoire Nicola Sala) and Arabic language and Literature (BA, University L'Orientale, Naples). After his doctoral studies, he held postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tuscia, Viterbo (Italy).

He is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Trinity Hall College.

From 2024-2027, he will be leading the research project "Italian Arab Musical Encounters (1860-1960): Sound, Colonisation and Power".