Affiliated Faculty

<p style="font-weight: 400"><strong>Francesca Cassio</strong> is the Sardarni Harbans Kaur Chair in Sikh Musicology and Professor of Music at Hofstra University, where she also serves as Chair of the Music Department. The <a href="https://www.hofstra.edu/sikh-musicology/">Sardarni Harbans Kaur Chair</a>, which Cassio has held since 2011, is the only endowed academic position in Sikh musicology at a Western university. Ethnomusicologist and kirtaniya, with extensive experience in teaching South Asian musics, at Hofstra, Cassio created the first undergraduate courses on Gurbani Sangit as part of the B.S. curriculum in Music History and Literature, which she coordinates. These courses, also offered as liberal arts electives, integrate music practice and community engagement. She has supervised graduate students at other institutions and collaborates internationally as a lecturer and external dissertation supervisor.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400">Her research addresses pre-modern devotional and court music traditions of North India — with particular focus on dhrupad and Gurbani sangit — alongside sonic practices and gender ideologies, decolonization, and the Sikh diaspora in southern Europe. She received her Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology in 2004 from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" in affiliation with Benares Hindu University, with a dissertation on gendered repertoires of North Indian vocal music, specifically the thumri tradition and the use of gesture in female performance. Her M.A. in Ethnomusicology, also from "La Sapienza" (1996, summa cum laude), focused on the history and vocal techniques of dhrupad in the Dagar bani.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400">From the mid-1990s, Cassio lived for extended periods in India, where she received training in the guru-shishya parampara from distinguished exponents of North Indian art and devotional music. She studied Gurbani kirtan under Bhai Baldeep Singh and Hazuri Ragi Bhai Gurcharan Singh Ragi; dhrupad singing under Padmabhushan Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Khan Dagar, Pandit Ritwik Sanyal, and Vidhushi Amelia Cuni; thumri singing under Padmavibhushan Girija; Rabindra Sangit under Vidhushi Pramita Mallik. This training grounds her scholarly work in experiential knowledge of the dhrupad-based repertories that inform the Gurbani kirtan parampara.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400">Cassio published two monographs on dhrupad, both of which discuss Gurbani sangit as a foundational premodern tradition in the genre's history. <strong><em>Percorsi della Voce: Storia e tecniche esecutive del canto dhrupad nella musica classica dell'India del nord</em></strong> (Ut Orpheus, 2000) is based on original fieldwork on dhrupad traditions and styles, delving into the vocal techniques rooted in the yoga of sound (nada yoga). The textbook in use at Italian universities and conservatories. <a href="https://www.nota.it/prodotto/raga-della-sera-e-della-notte-evening-and-night-ragas/"><strong><em>Evening and Night Rāgas. The Dhrupad of Amelia Cuni</em></strong></a> (Nota, 2025) offers an updated introduction to dhrupad history and styles, including 20th-century Western musicians such as the Italian singer Amelia Cuni, the first Western woman to pursue a professional career in the field. Cassio is currently working on a monograph on Gurbani Kirtan through a decolonial approach, and is co-editing with Balbinder Singh Bhogal two volumes on the ecology of sonic knowledges represented in the Guru Granth Sahib. (Both volumes are under contract with Routledge.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400">Cassio contributed several articles to <strong><em>Sikh Formations</em></strong>. The most recent, "<u><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17448727.2025.2592179">Kīrtan as empowering practice in the Sikh diaspora: A sound response to the exploitation of Sikh migrants in central Italy</a>” </u>(<strong><em>Sikh Formations</em></strong>, edited by Arvind Mandair, 2026) examines the exploitation of Sikh agricultural workers in Agro Pontino from a Sikh philosophical perspective and documents how Cassio, in collaboration with senior members of the local sangat, created a space to cultivate kirtan as an empowering practice to help Sikh immigrants disengage from conditions of exploitation — an example of applied scholarship connecting musicological research with diaspora community engagement. In 2019, in the article “<a href="https://www.academia.edu/42272822/2019_ARTICLE_The_sonic_pilgrimage_Exploring_k%C4%ABrtan_and_sacred_journeying_in_Sikh_culture">The Sonic Pilgrimage. Exploring Kīrtan and Sacred Journeying in Sikh Culture</a>” (<strong><em>Sikh Formations</em></strong>, edited by Nirinjan Kaur Khalsa), Cassio examines pilgrimage in Sikh literature and philosophy, arguing that kirtan is a means of inner sacred journeying. Based on original fieldwork conducted in India, "<a href="https://www.academia.edu/11244336/2014_ARTICLE_Female_Voices_in_Gurbani_Sangit_and_the_Role_of_Media_in_Promoting_Female_Kirtaniye_">Female Voices in Gurbani Sangit and the Role of the Media in Promoting Female Kirtaniye</a>" (<strong><em>Sikh Formations</em></strong>, edited by Balbinder Singh Bhgal, 2014) is the first academic article to examine the history of female voices in the Gurbani sangit tradition, and how colonially-derived gender ideologies had a long-lasting impact on women’s musical education and public performances. For this groundbreaking contribution, Cassio was awarded the Stessing Prize 2015. "The Music of the Sikh Gurus' Tradition in a Western Context: Cross-Cultural Pedagogy and Research" (<strong><em>Sikh Formations</em></strong>, edited by Balbinder Singh Bhogal, 2011) addresses the challenges and methods of teaching the Sikh Gurus' musical tradition within the Western academic curriculum.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400">Cassio authored several book chapters. In 2023, Cassio published “<a href="https://www.academia.edu/105285857/Singing_the_Scripture_Sikh_Kirtan_in_Literature_Practices_and_Musicological_Studies">Singing the Scripture. Sikh Kirtan in Literature, Practices and Musicological Studies</a>” (in <strong><em>The Sikh World</em></strong>, edited by Arvind Mandair and Pashaura Singh, Routledge), an introduction to Gurbani kirtan through a decolonial lens. This book chapter challenges the dominant narrative of raga-based songs as ‘classical’ music and explores kirtan in the context of pre-modern devotional sung poetry. This essay also elaborates some concepts published in "<a href="https://www.academia.edu/12850972/2015_ARTICLE_Gurbani_Sangit_Autenticity_and_Influences_A_study_of_the_Sikh_Musical_Tradition_in_Relation_to_Medieval_and_Early_Modern_Indian_Music_">Gurbani Sangit: Authenticity and Influences. A Study of the Sikh Musical Tradition in Relation to Medieval and Early Modern Indian Music</a>" (in <strong><em>Encountering Sikh Texts, Practices and Performances: Essays in Honour of Professor Christopher Shackle</em></strong>, edited by Arvind-Pal Mandair and Pashaura Singh, Routledge, 2015) where Cassio examines the Sikh musical tradition in the context of pre-modern North Indian devotional and court music, addressing questions of continuity, transmission, and the relationship between Gurbani sangit and cognate genres. Since 2019, Cassio has led interdisciplinary projects to decolonize the study of Sikh musical heritage. Among these, she co-authored with Nirinjan Kaur Khalsa-Baker the book chapter “Singing Dharma: The Sonic Transmission of Knowledge in the Sikh Path” (in <strong><em>Explorations in Indic Traditions: Beacons of Dharma</em></strong>, edited by Michael Reading and Christopher Miller, Lexington Books, 2020). In this essay, the authors discuss kirtan as one of the key practices in the educational process, functioning as an aural method of imparting spiritual discipline. "The Necessity of a Decolonial Frame: Undoing the Inscriptions of Colonial Modernity in the Study of Sikh Musical Heritage" (with Balbinder Singh Bhogal, Bhai Baldeep Singh, and Nirinjan Kaur Khalsa-Baker), published by the International Council for Traditional Music's <strong><em>Dialogues: Towards Decolonizing Music and Dance Studies</em></strong> (2022), identifies the colonial matrix in Eurocentric terminology applied to Gur-Sikh concepts and in the modern musical setting of Gurbani kirtan, and argues for rethinking ethnomusicological readings of underrepresented traditions through a decolonial frame.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400">In her latest work, “Conservami un posto dentro la tua memoria. L’ascolto e il canto in Rabindranath Tagore, fra tradizione Sikh, rivelazione interiore e romanticismo tedesco” (in <strong><em>Sentieri della Musica</em></strong>, edited by Gianluca Chelini et al, Neoclassica, 2026), Cassio examines Gurbani kirtan as one of the primary sources of inspiration in Rabindranath Tagore’s songs. In Italian, she also published the book chapter “<a href="https://www.academia.edu/11242929/2010_BOOK_CHAPTER_Il_Nada_Yoga_La_scienza_del_suono_nella_tradizione_musicale_indiana">Il nada yoga: la scienza del suono nella tradizione musicale Indiana</a>” (in <strong><em>Conscientia musica</em></strong>, edited by Annalisa Addessi et al., LIM), one of the first essays to discuss the yoga of sound from the perspective of dhrupad singers. In French, she published “<a href="https://www.academia.edu/10982425/2005_ARTICLE_Artistes_ou_Concubines_La_tradition_vocale_feminine_en_Inde_du_Nord_">La Tradition Vocale Féminine en Inde du Nord</a>” (in Cahier de Musiques Traditionnelles, Atelier d’Ethnomusicologie, 2005), and “<a href="https://www.academia.edu/92745440/Entre_femmes">Tradition des Courtisanes de l’Inde du Nord: Passé et Présent</a>” (in <strong><em>Entre Ateliers d’Artistes et Musicologie</em></strong>, Ambronay Press, 2013).</p> <p style="font-weight: 400">Before joining Hofstra, Cassio taught ethnomusicology and Hindustani vocal music at the Conservatory of Vicenza (2001–2010), ethnomusicology at the University of Trento (2005–2009), Anthropology of Music at the Conservatory of Adria (2007–2010) in Italy, and was Visiting Professor in Ethnomusicology at Viswa Bharati University in Shantiniketan, India (2008–2009).</p> <p style="font-weight: 400">She has lectured and performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, the UK, India, and Bangladesh. Regularly offers kirtan at local Gurdwaras on Long Island, accompanied by her current and graduate students. In addition to her mother tongue, Italian, and English, she reads Punjabi, Gurumukhi, Hindi, Sanskrit, French, Spanish, Latin, and Greek.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400">Adviser for the Dhrupad Archive project at the Ethnologisches Museum of Berlin (Humboldt Forum), Germany. Member-researcher in the MANTRAMS project (University of Tübingen); External reviewer for Sikh Formations (Routledge), Oxford University Press, Musicultures, MPDI (Religion and Music), American Anthropologist, Archivio Antropologico del Mediterraneo, Routledge (Ethnomusicology Series).</p> <span style="font-weight: 400">Active member of international ethnomusicology organizations (SEM; ICTMD), in 2021, Cassio joined the steering committee of the Sikh Unit at the AAR.</span>

Sikh musicology, with emphasis on the raga-based song forms of the Guru Granth Sahib and the Gurbani kirtan paramparas in relation to pre-modern North Indian devotional and court music. Dhrupad: history, vocal techniques, nada yoga, and connections to Gurbani sangit. Gender ideologies and sonic practices, including the history and marginalization of female performers of devotional and art music. Decolonial approaches to the study of South Asian musical heritage, including the colonial inscriptions in modern kirtan practice and ethnomusicological scholarship. The Sikh diaspora in southern Europe, including the exploitation of Sikh migrant workers in Italy, and kirtan as an empowering community practice. Community engagement and interdisciplinary practices.