I conducted fieldwork in Azerbaijan between 2000 and 2001.

I worked on a mourning ceremony named taziye, which I described in my masters thesis (MA1) and in this article.

I also worked among Molokans (Russian Christian sectarians exiled to the Caucasus under Catherine the Great) on boundaries and community belonging (see my masters thesis in Slavic Studies).

I conducted fieldwork in Turkey between 2003 and 2005.

I worked in the suburbs of Istanbul and Diyarbakir among Kurdish refugees. I describe their melodised narratives of war and exile in my masters thesis and in this article.

I also conducted fieldwork in Hakkari on women's repertoires (laments, lullabies, epics and wedding songs).

I conducted fieldwork in Armenia between 2005 and 2010.

I worked among Yezidis, a kurdish-speaking religious minority. My aim was to understand their narratives of loss and pain. These utterances, which the Yezidis usually melodise, play an important role in funerals and mourning ceremonies, as well as in their daily life. This has been the topic of my doctoral thesis (2010), of my book, as well as of several articles (published in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012).

I studied Javanese gamelan in Indonesia during various stays between 2006 and 2012. I learned to perform on various instruments and focused on sindhenan (the female singing part). My involvement with gamelan is described in greater detail here.