Jochen Eisentraut

Biography

Originally from Germany, Jochen Eisentraut gained a BA in Psychology at Bangor and went on to compose music professionally for film, television and theatre in the ‘80s and ‘90s. This included many drama series for S4C, and the network ITV series We Are Seven, which won the Gold Award for Family Drama at the New York International Film and TV Festival. He also collaborated with art animator Clive Wally, composing and sound designing on several projects including the award winning Light of Uncertainty, which was broadcast on BBC2. In 1995 Jochen began lecturing in music at Bangor University. He conceived an MA in Creative Music Technology, which was one of the first of its kind, but also began to do ethnographic fieldwork on samba in the UK. This research led to a larger project exploring musical accessibility on which he completed a PhD thesis, which was later published by Cambridge University Press. The book deals with the ways in which we engage with music, or not; particularly in terms of music associated with different cultures, social classes or historical periods. At present Dr Eisentraut is researching adopted cultural practices such as capoeira, salsa and yoga. Jochen is also a saxophonist and pianist who has played with a number of bands, often performing his own music. He has released several albums and performed at many concerts in places including Paris, Mexico, Malaysia, Belfast, London and Brazil. He works mainly in styles related to jazz, African and Latin music. This experience informs his teaching at Bangor where he leads modules on world music cultures, Brazilian music, and women in jazz. Furthermore, he teaches ‘Fusion Ensemble’ which enables students to improvise in a wide range of styles using instruments from various parts of the world.

Research Interest

Adopted cultural practices Musical accessibility The meanings of transplanted musics