Allan Marett

Biography

Professor Allan Marett is a musicologist working in the areas of Australian Aboriginal Music and Sino-Japanese music history. He has held the posts of Professor of Musicology at the University of Sydney, Professor of Music at the University of Hong Kong and is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Sydney. He was the Inaugural Director of the National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia and has served as National President of the Australian Musicological Society and Vice-President of the International Council for Traditional Music.

His book, Songs, Dreamings and Ghosts: the Wangga of North Australia won the Stanner award in 2006, while his research on the history and analysis of the tôgaku tradition of Japanese Court Music has transformed our understanding of one of the world’s oldest continuous tradition of instrumental music. He has written two Noh plays in English, and currently teaches Zen Buddhism within the Diamond Sangha tradition. He speaks Japanese and has a working knowledge of several European, Asian and Aboriginal languages.