Music and memory

Isaac researches traditional music. They are currently concluding a PhD at SOAS University of London, looking at psalm chant in Sephardic Jewish communities.

This research goes back to Isaac’s own upbringing in the London Sephardi Community. Since then, Isaac’s research has taken them to almost 200 Sephardic synagogues across 11 countries, giving them a uniquely broad insight into the range of musics and contemporary religious practice of this diverse diaspora. They have also written on English folk music, music analysis methodologies, pedagogy, and Hindu recitation.

Isaac is editor of a new series of Sephardic prayerbooks, has written for publication, and speaks regularly at conferences. Isaac has written for commission, and is equally comfortable writing for academic, religious, and layperson contexts. A full list of publications can be found below. Isaac is also available as an editor, adept at understanding an author’s intended argument and helping them convey it concisely without losing personal tone, and as a typesetter, particularly of texts with a mix of left-to-right and right-to-left languages.

To Isaac, the most important part of research is the community education and engagement following it. Their work is into music that is being forgotten, and is the cultural heritage of minority groups without access to it. This is Isaac’s core motivation – to bring these musical traditions to anyone who wants to learn them.

Full academic CV here.