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Dr
Sara Manasseh is an Ethnomusicologist,
performer and
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Her publications include articles on music in religious and life-cycle events, in the Babylonian (or Iraqi) Jewish tradition, the role of Iraqi Jewish women in music performance, and with her mother, Rachel Manasseh, a historical and social account of the Baghdadian Jews of India.
Sara was born in Bombay of Iraqi-Jewish parents, and moved to London in 1966.
Following diplomas in the piano (LRAM) and in specialist music teaching, she began a teaching career in music. She was Head of Music at London Comprehensive schools for a number of years, during the 1970s and 1980s, and following a master’s degree in ethnomusicology, she was appointed Senior Lecturer in Music at Kingston University, Surrey and, later, Head of Music at a London school. She is currently actively involved in research.
Her doctoral dissertation,
Women in music performance: The Iraqi Jewish experience in Israel (London
University), surveys the historical, social and musical life of Iraqi Jews
in Iraq and Israel, noting the significant change in women’s musical participation,
and the continued preference for Iraqi Jewish musical traditions at religious
and life cycle events, and for Arab music – particularly of Egypt and Iraq
– at social events.
© Copyright Sara Manasseh.