Track Changes: Mapping Musical Contrafacta Through the Balkans-Levant Nexus

This seminar explores musical contrafacta -melodies shared across different languages- through the historically intertwined geographies of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa. Dr. Firat Erdogmus, a postdoctoral scholar and maker in digital humanities, will present an interactive atlas that traces these musical variations, examining folk songs across languages to unravel the layered histories of cultural diffusion, exchange, and appropriation.

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Dr. Firat Erdogmus is a scholar and maker in digital humanities, exploring the intersections of digital media technologies, social processes, and cultural practices. With a background in economics, history, media anthropology, and computer programming, his interdisciplinary work bridges technology, culture, and critical inquiry. As a self-taught coder, he has initiated and contributed to activist and archival media projects, integrating creative practice with critical analysis. As a software developer for Off-University’s "Beyond Social Cohesion: Global Repertoires of Living Together" (RePLITO) project, he maintains the online archive exploring transregional perspectives on communal life. He also contributes to interactive and creative digital projects, including the implementation of the Kurdish Documentary Cinema Database with the University of Marburg; and self-hosted deployment of Off-University’s presence on PubPub, an open-source platform for participatory community publishing. He has worked and collaborated with universities in Turkey, Germany, and the United States, leading workshops and courses on digital media and culture. As the founding director of DigiLapZ (Digital Media Laboratory and Production Zone), he guided projects blending research, artistic expression, and digital production. Currently, he is a post-doctoral researcher at Bard College Berlin, developing an interactive online atlas that maps musical "contrafacta" -melodies shared across different languages- through the Balkans-Levant Nexus.

For more information, e-mail [email protected].

Time: 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm CET/GMT+1

Location: P24 - Seminar Room 8

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