Theodore Craig Levin (born 1951) is an American
ethnomusicologist
Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...
. He is a professor of music at
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
and earned his undergraduate degree at
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
and obtained his Ph.D. from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. Levin has focused his research on the people of the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
,
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
, and
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
. His recordings from these regions have been released on various labels.
Levin served as the first executive director of the
Silk Road Project
Silkroad, formerly the Silk Road Project, Inc., is a not-for-profit organization, initiated by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, promoting collaboration among artists and institutions, promoting multicultural artistic exchange, and studying the ebb and ...
, an initiative of the American cellist
Yo-Yo Ma. He also served as chair of the Arts and Culture sub-board of the
Open Society Foundations
Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a Grant (money), grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the wo ...
. Currently he is a senior project consultant to the
Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia of the
Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
Levin began studying Central Asian forms of music in 1974. Since then, he has written several books, including ''The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (and Queens, New York)'' (first published in 1996). He chronicled his journey to
Tuva
Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...
in his book ''Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond'' (first published in 2006).
Books
Levin's first book, ''The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (and Queens, New York)'', was published by
Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes 140 ...
in 1996. It was republished in 1999. In it, Levin chronicles his travels across Central Asia from 1977 to 1994. Levin records information about various musical genres and traditions, such as
shashmaqam, suvara, and
dastan as well as a variety of folk genres. The book provides a detailed account of Central Asian folk customs in
Tsarist
Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...
,
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
and post-Soviet periods. The volume was published with an accompanying 24-track CD with location recordings.
Levin's second book, ''Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond'', was first published by Indiana University Press in 2006. It was republished in 2010. In this volume, Levin chronicles his experiences with a
Tuva
Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...
n throat-singing group. The author details the Tuvan people's ideas about nature and animals, and how their music reproduces the sounds and actions of those animals. The idea of tradition is also brought up frequently, especially in the case of the throat singers. A
Russian edition of the book with contributions from Valentina Süzükei was published by Klassika-XXI in 2012 under the title ''Музыка новых номадов. Горловое пение в Туве и за ее пределами'' (literally "The Music of the New Nomads. Throat singing in Tuva and Beyond"). Both the English and Russian versions were published with an accompanying CD.
Levin also edited the book ''The Music of Central Asia'' along with Saida Daukeyeva and Elmira Köchümkulova. The book was published in 2016 by Indiana University Press with the support and collaboration of the
Aga Khan Music Initiative, a program of the
Aga Khan Trust for Culture. The volume contains contributions by 27 authors from 14 countries, and has a companion website (www.musicofcentralasia.org) with access to close to 200 audio and video examples. It was also published as an e-book in two volumes. The project received the 2017 Public Outreach Award of the
Central Eurasian Studies Society
The Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS) is a North American-based society for scholars concerned with the Central Eurasian region. The society seeks to "promote high standards of research and teaching, and to foster communication among scholars ...
as well as the 2018 RUSA Darmouth Medal for Excellence in Reference.
Recordings
Levin's recordings from the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
, the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
,
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
, and
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
have been released on various labels, including
Nonesuch Records,
Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fou ...
,
Ocora
Ocora (Office de Coopération Radiophonique) is a French record label specializing in field recordings of world music. It was founded in 1957 by the composer, pianist and musicologist Charles Duvelle with the musician Pierre Schaeffer. Ocora is ...
, and
Auvidis
Auvidis was a record label founded in 1976 by Louis Bricard. Along with its subsidiaries, it was acquired in 1998 by Naïve Records.
During its existence, Auvidis acquired a number of subsidiary labels, such as Unidisc; the traditional and world ...
. In particular, Levin produced the 1990 CD ''Tuva: Voices from the Center of Asia'', which is the first commercial recording of Tuvan music released in the West. Additionally, Levin and the French ethnomusicologist
Jean During
Jean During (born 1947) is a French musician and ethnomusicologist specialising in music from the nations of the East especially Iran, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan. A commentator on the Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures, he is th ...
produced the two-CD set ''The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan'', which was released in 2001. Both of these albums were released on the Smithsonian Folkways label.
Most notably, Levin produced the ten-disk series ''Music of Central Asia''. The project was implemented in collaboration with the
Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia, a program of the
Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and released on the Smithsonian Folkways label from 2004 to 2011. The second volume of the series was nominated for the 2007
Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album was an honor presented to recording artists between 2004 and 2011 for quality traditional world music albums. The Grammy Awards, an annual ceremony that was established in 1958 and originall ...
.
References
External links
On the Silk Road with Professor Ted LevinMusic of Central Asia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levin, Theodore
American ethnomusicologists
American music educators
American writers about music
American travel writers
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American male novelists
Dartmouth College faculty
Amherst College alumni
Princeton University alumni
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers
1951 births