Performance and Practice

Adebola Ola (Bola) is a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology at Boston University. He earned a BA, BM (Hons), and MM from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where he studied piano with Prof. Franklin Larey and Prof. Albie van Schalkwyk. He is currently studying organ under Prof. Peter Sykes at Boston University. Bola has over twenty years of experience working with choirs across Africa, Europe, and North America, and he has performed internationally in Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America. He has also participated in numerous piano symposiums, including the Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium in South Africa, and has taken masterclasses with renowned pianists such as Prof. Luis Magalhães, Dr. Liezl-Marét, Prof. Pieter Grobler, and Prof. Geir Henning Braaten. Bola holds a Licentiate Diploma in Music (LTCL) from Trinity College London, as well as certificates in copyright law from Harvard University and arts management from Boston University.

Research and Scholarship

His current research focuses on the Afro-diasporic flow of large-box lamellophones, particularly in West Africa and the Caribbean. He also examines the relationship between music and language, exploring how musicians manipulate non-somatic sound sources to achieve speech surrogacy. His broader research interests include Afro-Asian studies, Ethiopian melodic systems (kinit), West Asian modes (maqām), and West African and South African popular music. In 2024, Bola was selected for the Boston University Center for the Humanities Summer PhD Internship, where he worked with the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Archive Department, digitizing and documenting exhibit panels spanning over a decade. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM), the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), the South African Society for Research in Music (SASRIM), and the Association of Nigerian Musicologists (ANIM). He also serves on the editorial board of Musicology Now!, the American Musicological Society’s digital journal. Bola enjoys taking Afro-Cuban drumming lessons with maestro Sandy Pérez and is currently learning to play the àgídìgbo, marimbula, and mbira—lamellophone instruments that align with his research.