Popular Music: Songwriting Studies

Ingrid M. Tolstad (Oslo Metropolitan University) Tracking the songwriting process – collaborative songwriting as social event

Ingrid M. Tolstad is a social anthropologist with a PhD in musicology from the University of Oslo. Her dissertation was an ethnographic case study of Swedo-Russian pop collaborations based on music studio fieldwork. Her research experience includes investigations into quality assessments in creative and artistic practices, methodological exploration in youth participation and urban development, facilitating innovation in media organizations, and consequences of digitalization in society, arts and culture.

Leandro Maia (Bath Spa University/Universidade Federal de Pelotas/UFPEL/Brazil) Do songs come from the inside?

Leandro Maia is a singer-songwriter with a PhD in Music from Bath Spa University. He is an Adjunct Professor at Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPEL/Brazil) and a Visiting Research Fellow at Bath Spa University/UK. Maia holds a Master’s Degree in Brazilian Literature (UFRGS/Brazil) and a Degree in Music Teaching (UFRGS/Brazil). As a researcher, he runs the Songwriting Research Lab “Núcleo da Canção UFPEL”. As an artist, Maia was the first Brazilian composer granted with the songwriting prize Prêmio Ibermúsicas de Composición de Canción Popular by the Organization of Iberoamerican States (OEI, 2014), and has released three albums: Palavreio (2008), Mandinho (2012), and Suíte Maria Bonita e Outras Veredas (2014). Between 2016 and 2019, when living in the UK, Maia played with the international quartet Kusanganisa. In 2020, he released the film Paisagens [Landscapes]. More info at leandromaia.com.br.