My ethnomusicological research focuses on Sufi music of South Asia. For my PhD dissertation (2020), I did a year and a half of ethnographic research on Sindhi-language Sufi poetry performance in Kachchh, Gujarat (western India), a border district adjacent to Sindh, Pakistan. The dissertation, entitled “A Heavy Rain Has Fallen Upon My People: Sufi Poetry Performance, Emotion, and Islamic Knowledge in Kachchh, Gujarat” is a study of how poetry performance, especially of poetry by Shāh ‘Abdul Latīf Bhiṭā’ī (1689-1752 CE) has served as a means for the transmission of Islamic/ethical teachings in rural Muslim communities in Kachchh. I examine the role of emotion and affective practices in knowledge transmission, as well as Islamic reformist critiques of musical practice. In total, I've spent about three years in India since 2005, most of that time studying music and languages (Urdu, Hindi, Sindhi, Kachchhi, Punjabi).
People often ask how I came to be interested in South Asian languages, cultures, and religions. The short answer I give is, "The Beatles." The long answer is, well, longer. With regard to Sindhi music, I first became enthralled by the Sindhi Pakistani singer Abida Parveen in 2004, but it wasn’t until a decade later that I became familiar with other Sindhi singers and developed a deeper interest in the region’s musical traditions. Eventually this led me to Kachchh, which has many communities with deep ties to Sindh. You can watch more videos I’ve made of Sindhi music in Kachchh, Gujarat on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/brianbondmusic