Our Director
Dr. Subash Giri is a founder, director, and principal instructor of the Alberta School of Indian Music & Performing arts. He is a well-known and highly respected music educator, music researcher, concert director, ensemble director, and performer, in the Edmonton South Asian diasporic community.
Dr. Giri is a community-based multilingual and multi-instrumental musician, music educator, ensemble director, ethnomusicologist, and award-winning researcher. He is an Assistant Lecturer of Indian Music Ensemble (IME) at the Department of Music, University of Alberta. He received his PhD in Music from the University of Alberta, Canada. He also holds degrees in Hindustani Classical Voice (M MUS) from University of Nepal and Music Management (M MUS MGMT) from University of Agder, Norway.
Dr. Giri’s research focuses on South Asian diaspora in North America, particularly Canada and the United States. His research has received numerous international awards, grants, and fellowships.His doctoral research related to music and cultural sustainability in South Asian diaspora of Edmonton was nominated for Canada’s Governor General’s Gold Medal––that is awarded to doctoral graduates for outstanding academic excellence and highest academic standing. Dr. Giri’s first book, Music for Culture and Well-Being: Community Collaborative Participatory Musicking, Teaching, and Archiving in the Minority Nepalese Canadian Diaspora, is forthcoming from Indiana University Press.
Dr. Giri has more than 20 years of experience in teaching music. He is a registered music teacher with the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Association (CFMTA) and Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association (ARMTA) since 2018.
Dr. Giri is an accomplished music performer, composer, ensemble director, and concert director. He has been engaged in his artistic practice for the past 20 years. He specializes in Hindustani classical voice. He has expertise in singing Hindustani raga, Bollywood music, Ghazal, Sufi, Bhajan, Chants, Ginan, and Nepalese classical and traditional music. He is also well-versed in playing the harmonium, tabla, Nepalese cylindrical hand drum ‘madal‘, guitar, and keyboard. He has performed extensively in numerous national and international concerts and festivals in Norway, Canada, and Nepal.
Through multiple cultural leadership roles such as ensemble creation, festival organizing, community music teaching, and concert performances Dr. Giri has been deeply involved with the South Asian immigrant communities. He engages local community artists in collaborative cultural activities and promoted local art practices through public performances and teaching.