Jordan Zalis

Jordan Zalis is a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Previously, Jordan earned his Bachelor of Music (Honours, with High Distinction) in Vocal Performance and a Master of Arts in Music and Culture from Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. Recipient of the Helmut Kallmann Award for Research in Canadian Music, and a doctoral fellow of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Jordan’s research sits at the intersection of sound, music, and sport. His ongoing thesis work lauds perspectivism and dialogue, asking hundreds of people the same question: “What does basketball sound like?” The result is a dynamic multimedia project and set of essays, criticisms, and oral histories that will turn into book form “soon.” If you’re interested in reading what an emerging ethnomusicologist thinks about the sound of sport in Canada, Jordan has published work on the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, and the sounding politics of TD Place Stadium, where he “listened to football (soccer) in Ottawa” (Insular Livros 2020; Routledge 2021). Together with writing and performing original music, Jordan manages a small Toronto-based record label and music publishing house, named Suplex Music and [xlds], respectively. When not in the field (studying sound, music, and sport), Jordan is out in the park, practicing environmental soundscape recording while embracing rivers, lakes, oceans, and forests.