![Austin C. Okigbo](/music/sites/default/files/styles/small/public/people/ted_ascendspeakers_webgraphics_austin-okigbo.png?itok=_gJu-sEm)
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Austin C. Okigbo is an associate professor in the College of MusicÌýand affiliate faculty in Ethnic Studies and Global Health. He received his PhDÌýin Ethnomusicology and African Studies from Indiana University, Bloomington, and a master’s in Sacred Music and Music Education from Westminster Choir College where he studied with Robin Leaver, Joseph Flummerfelt, James Jordan and Frank Abrahams, with performance tracks in voice and choral conducting. He also has degrees in philosophy and theology from the Pontifical Urban University, Rome.ÌýHis research focuses on religious music, musical diasporas, global health, inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogues. Prior to joining CU Boulder, Professor Okigbo taught at Williams College as the Sterling Brown Visiting Professor, Harvard UniversityÌýand the University of Notre Dame.
Okigbo has featured in a number of local and international radio and television programs including BBC, Channels TV Lagos, NigeriaÌýand Black Radio Consortium as contributor and analyst on the entertainment industry, and cultural education and policy. He is the author ofÌýMusic, Culture, and the Politics of Health: Ethnography of a South African AIDS Choir (Rowman and Littlefield, 2016).ÌýHeÌýhas published articles inÌýAfrica Today, Du Bois Review, Ethnomusicology, Journal of Folklore Research,Ìý²¹²Ô»åÌýThe Journal of the International Library of African Music.ÌýHe is the editor of theÌýWorld of MusicÌý(Verlag, Berlin, Germany 2015) on the New African Musical Diasporas. Professor Okigbo’s current work includes book projects on music and cultural imaginations in African Christianity; and new African musical diasporas. He also has an on-going project on World Music of the Front Range, Colorado.
Okigbo directs the CU Boulder World Vocal Ensemble, which has featured with the world famous South African vocal group, The Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and the multi-award-winning popular musician and activist Johnny Clegg. He has conducted college, churchÌýand community choirs in the United States, South AfricaÌýand Nigeria. He also served as co-chair of the African Music Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology (2014-2017)—and onÌýseveral committees in the organization and the African Studies Association.
Selected courses taught at CU Boulder
Graduate seminars:ÌýEthnomusicology Proseminar;ÌýWorld Music Pedagogy; Black Atlantic, Black American Music, Music in African Life
Undergraduate seminars:ÌýMusic and Global Health; Music and Politics in Africa; Art Music of Africa; Music in African Religious Experience; Ethnomusicology Senior Seminar