Tony Rasmussen

Tony Rasmussen (he/him/his) is a music scholar specializing in music and sound studies of Latin America and Latinx communities across the US. His research engages (inter)personal listening histories to explore how individuals draw meaning from a shared sonic experience in multivalent ways, exposing culturally inflected currents of belonging and difference. His postdoctoral research, supported by UC MEXUS/CONACYT, approaches the endemic whistle practices of Mexico City as potent indices of gender, race, and social class, and represents one of the first investigations to approach the topic of global whistles from a sociocultural perspective.

Dr. Rasmussen is also a nonprofit development specialist and community arts educator, committed to creating pathways of agency and resilience for underserved communities in both the US and Mexico. Recently, this has included innovating fundraising and community-engaged research strategies in support of Radio Bilingüe: the nation’s largest non-commercial Spanish-language radio network. He leverages this public sector experience in the classroom, empowering students to realize their career potential both within and outside academia, while fostering an ethos of public service.

He began his musical journey as a pop songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in Los Angeles, writing material for a range of media including sound installation, short film, and vinyl LP and performing with both experimental and traditional ensembles like son jarocho, mariachi, and Persian classical. He received a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from UC Riverside in 2017 and an M.F.A. in integrated composition, improvisation, and technology from UC Irvine in 2009. His dissertation, “Resistance Resounds: Hearing Power in Mexico City,” was supported by the UCR Graduate Research Mentorship Fellowship and UC MEXUS Dissertation Research Grant. His work is featured in Latin American Perspectives, Latin American Music Review, Women and Music, and Ethnomusicology Forum.