Bio

Mark Aranha is an Indian musician, musicologist, and PhD candidate in musicology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is based between New Delhi, Johannesburg, and Kozhikode, where he is researching performance traditions and melodies in Mappila culture. This research continues from his Master’s work on the history and selected song traditions of Jews and Mappilas in Kerala as communities arising out of precolonial networks of exchange across the Indian Ocean.

For more than a decade as a performer, composer and arranger, he has played and recorded guitar, bass, sarod, and dotara across a variety of genres and contexts with artists such as Susmit Sen (IN), Sumangala Damodaran (IN), Thandeka Mfinyongo (RSA), CHOSI (RSA), Cara Stacey (RSA), Parker McAllister (USA), Bianca Love (USA), Madan Gopal Singh (IN), Bawari Basanti (IN) and many others. 

Mark's approach to musical arrangement combines a sensitive ear with a sophisticated harmonic palette, aided by his studies at the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music under artists such as Prasanna, Rubens de la Corte, Ed DeGenaro, Jason Lindner, Panagiotis Andreou, and Magos Hererra. 

As an academic, he has lectured at and presented papers at several universities and conferences, and was the recipient of a special commendation at the British Forum for Ethnomusicology in 2019. He graduated with distinction with an MMus in Ethnomusicology from the University of Cape Town in 2021.

His scholarly and creative interests came together collaborating in multiple musical productions as part of his work with the Mellon-funded international research project Re-Centring AfroAsia. He is also a member of artist collectives such as the Kukutana Ensemble, Aazhi Archives, and the Sound Praxis Exchange research group (Arts Research Africa).

Mark is also one of the founding partners of Aurelia Guitars, making boutique electric guitars in Trivandrum, Kerala..