MUSIC IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD. A CULTURAL, HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNEY

Prof. Sabir Badalkhan has a Ph.D. in Balochi folklore. He has been teaching languages, literature and cultures of the Indian subcontinent at the Oriental University of Naples, since 1994. He has also taught as a visiting professor at The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA (2002-2003), and served as Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Balochistan, Quetta (2008-2009). His research interests include oral tradition in Balochistan (both in Pakistan and Iran), itinerant musicians, singers and storytellers in South- and Southwest Asia, and African musical culture in Pakistan and Iran. He has published widely on these topics and presented papers in national and international conferences in many parts of the world. His publications include “Two Essays on Baloch History and Folklore” (Naples – Rome, 2013) and Iranian Studies in Honour of Adriano V. Rossi, Series Minor, LXXXVII, in 2 vols (Naples, 2019) which he co-edited with G. P. Basello and M. De Chiara.

Rosanna Budelli obtained her PhD in Near Eastern and Maghreb Studies at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”. She has taught Arabic language and literature on fixed-term contracts at several Italian universities and is currently a member of the Foundation for Religious Sciences; she was Scientific Director at the La Pira Library and Research Centre for Islamic studies in Palermo. Her books include Il Sigillo di Salomone in tre manoscritti di magia copta in lingua araba (“The Seal of Solomon in three Arabic Manuscripts of Coptic Magic”) and Ascese e Visioni: i poemi mistici di Muḥammad al-Ḫālidī (“Ascensions and Visions: the poems of the Sufi Muḥammad al-Khālidī”). Her main interests are Sufi literature, Medieval Islamic traditions (ḥadīṯ) and the anthropology of Muslim countries.

Mette Rudvin, born and raised in Pakistan, completed her studies in Norway and the UK and holds a PhD in Translation Studies. She taught English, Translation and Community Interpreting at the University of Bologna from 1996-2019, and is currently Associate Professor at the University of Palermo where she teaches English Language and related subjects. Prof. Rudvin has taught, lectured on and organized seminars and workshops on a variety of subjects including: Translation; English Language and Literature (English as a Lingua Franca, Children’s literature, Anglo-Indian Literature); Community Interpreting; Pakistan studies; Oral Narrative and, more recently, Food Communication. She has published widely on these issues focussing primarily on Community Interpreting. In 2014 she set up the first multilingual course for community interpreters in the legal sector at the University of Bologna and from 2014-2018 she conducted a seminar series on Pakistan studies at the same University. From 1991 to 2019 she worked as a freelance translator and as a community/ legal interpreter between Italian, English, Norwegian and Urdu.