Dr Charu Mani

Dr Charulatha Mani, an Indian-Australian performer-musicologist-pedagogue originally from Chennai, is an expert in Karnatik vocal music of Southern India with an avid interest in Early Opera. She was awarded a PhD in historical musicology on 'Hybridising Karnatik Music and Early Opera: Voice, Word, and Gesture' from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Brisbane (August 2019). She performs, records, lectures, and publishes widely, and loves to creatively engage with marginalised communities through socially impactful music research projects. Her recent "Sing to Connect" research project explored the role of singing lullabies and storytelling for perinatal mental health and wellbeing in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) new and expectant mothers in Logan, Australia. Charu's research/teaching interests lie in mapping artistic research processes and their cultural origins to lived experiences of everyday creativities in individuals and communities. She is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). In July, her monograph "Reimagine to revitalise: New approaches to performance practices across cultures" is being launched by Cambridge University Press. Visit Charu's ResearchGate, Google Scholar and YouTube profiles.