Daniel Piper, Ph.D. is an ethnomusicologist, and curator at the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix, Arizona. His work explores how popular religion and the music that supports it continue to be vital and relevant to Dominicans in the twenty-first century. Piper’s latest research endeavor, titled "Dynamic Traditions Under Dominican Modernity: Towards a National Narrative of Change in Popular Religion and Music" is a study about how musicians, religious practitioners, and their relationship networks—which connect rural, semi-urban, and urban communities (including diaspora participants)—respond to changing social, economic, and cultural conditions, as modernization occurs. Based on extensive field research he conducted in the Dominican Republic from 2005 to 2012, this research project will include the curation of an accessible, digital archive on traditional salves and palos. It will feature audio and video recordings, photography, and field notes from nearly two hundred religious and musical performance events, and over one hundred interviews with tradition bearers on a range of topics relevant to ethnomusicological and oral history narratives. Dr. Piper's project will draw a necessary parallel to CUNY DSI’s research on the evolution of Afro-Dominican Music in the United States, examining how this music has also transformed over time in its native Dominican Republic.
Last Updated: 05/09/2023 13:49