Mattia Scassellati

My path to ethnomusicology started by accident and in a rather unconventional way. Initially, my interests focused on Latin American history and football. Nothing could be more unexpected than concentrating my later research on Argentina and tango. Over time, I soon began to recognize exciting parallels to my own Italian culture, which eventually became the main topic of my master’s thesis and currently are part of my Ph.D. project on tango between Argentina and Italy.

In my opinion, ethnomusicology is an exciting and enriching way to discover different cultures and their music (and sometimes also dance) practices and to gain a deeper understanding of them. Besides, the multi-and interdisciplinary approach allows me to connect my interests in other fields in a productive way. However, I particularly like the dynamic way of working, and to look for new and interesting approaches, connecting music, people, and culture, that enrich ethnomusicologists even outside of the university.

So, from football to tango and ethnomusicology? Why not? After all, it was not a coincidence that “Tango” was the name of the official ball of the Football World Cup held in Argentina in 1978... ;-) I would like to help people to discover their own way to ethnomusicology.


Curriculum Vitae