CCM doctoral student selected for the Cleveland Institute of Music's Future of Music Faculty Fellowship

Through a competitive process with more than 160 applicants from 30 states and seven countries, a panel of esteemed college and university faculty members selected 35 fellows based on the strength of their music background, education and application materials, as well as their dedication, skill and drive to succeed within the complex world of academia.

Within the class, 19 hold a terminal degree, with an additional eight in doctoral programs currently; their areas of study include instrumental, jazz and vocal performance; music education; composition; conducting; and ethnomusicology, musicology and music theory. They hail from 20 states across the country and range in age from 24 to 47.

Chirwa is a graduate assistant and PhD student in CCM's musicology program, as well as an Albert C. Yates Fellow. His primary area of research is hip-hop in West Africa and the United States. Specifically, his work interrogates how the transmission of music and culture within Africa and the diaspora can inform one’s understanding of global and local popular music traditions. He is also interested in digital music culture. Chirwa’s interest in digital technologies both considers a broad understanding of digital music culture and centers hip-hop as a music that was created and popularized in the digital age.

"I would like to thank my academic advisor, Dr. Scott Linford, for providing assistance in the fellowship's application process," said Chirwa. "More generally, he has been a wonderful guide and mentor during my time in the musicology doctoral program."