Dr Graeme Counsel is a lecturer, subject coordinator and Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne. His research projects and publications examine the nexus of popular music and politics, drawing from the disciplines of ethnomusicology and cultural studies.
His research interests encompass African, trans-Atlantic and Asiatic cultures, and focus on music, culture and society in Africa.
Dr Counsel's post-doctoral research includes over two years’ fieldwork in West Africa. From 2008 to 2013 he received three Major Research Project Awards through the Endangered Archives Programme in partnership with The British Library. This funding enabled the collection, preservation and archiving of the Republic of Guinea’s national sound archive, a collection of over 7,500 songs recorded during Guinea's 1st Republic (1958-1984). One of the largest digital collections of African music in the world, his archiving project includes the complete catalogue of the Syliphone recording label, the flagship of the Guinean recording industry. The digital archive is available online through the British Library Sounds website.
Dr Counsel’s digital archive projects were conducted in partnership with Guinea’s Ministry of Culture et Patrimonie and Ministry of Communication, and were exhibited at the National Museum in Conakry as part of the nation's 50th anniversary of independence celebrations. In recognition of his research and contribution to the preservation of national culture, the Guinean government awarded him their highest research honour, the gold medal of the Palme Academique en Or. He was the first non-African and non-Guinean recipient of this award.
The British Library, the Bibliotheque Nationale de Guinee and the archives of Radio Television Guinee hold his archival collections, and Dr Counsel has presented his research projects in a wide variety of fora. He was invited to present at the first international symposium on African popular music: “Revisiter l'histoire des musiques modernes d'Afrique: Retour aux sources”, held in Bamako, Mali. He has presented papers for numerous African Studies conferences and has lectured subjects on African music, ethnomusicology and cultural studies in the faculties of Arts and Music. In Africa he has conducted research with the National Council for Arts and Culture in The Gambia, The West African Research Center in Senegal and The Direction Nationale de la Culture in Mali. In addition to his publications, Dr Counsel compiled five double-volume compact discs of Guinean music, with Folk Roots magazine naming his compilation, “Authenticite - The Syliphone years. Guinea's Orchestres Nationaux and Federaux 1965-1980”, the best packaged album of the year. He has also compiled the first discographies of the shellac and vinyl recording output of the nations of Guinea, Mali, The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau and Mauritania, and constructed the first discographies of many early West African recording labels. In Australia he presented African music programmes on public radio and provided commentary for the BBC, ABC, SBS, and African television, radio and print media.
Find out more about Graeme Counsel's experience
Graeme Counsel's highlights
Graeme Counsel's selected work
Scholarly Works
Displaying the 58 most recent scholarly works by Graeme Counsel.
News
Displaying the most recent news article by Graeme Counsel.
Honours, Awards and Fellowships
In partnership with The British Library.
In partnership with The British Library.
Guinea's highest academic honour.
In partnership with The British Library.
Credentials
Positions
Honorary
Melbourne Conservatorium Of Music
Casual
Arts
Member
International Association for the Study of Popular Music
Member
Australia Western Sahara Association (Victoria)
Member
Mande Studies Association
Secretary
African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific
Education
Graduate Certificate in University Teaching
University of Melbourne
Doctor of Philosophy
University of Melbourne
Master of Music
University of Melbourne
Bachelor of Arts with Honours
Monash University