Nour El Rayes is an ethnomusicologist specializing in global popular musics. Her work engages questions about temporality, performance, and sound in the context of decolonial modes of self-determination. El Rayes’ current research project, an ethnography of alternative music in Lebanon, explores how music is entangled in the project of realizing particular aspirations or hopes for collective futures. She holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology with a designated emphasis in New Media from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College.

El Rayes has presented her research at meetings of the Society for Ethnomusicology, the American Anthropological Association, the Middle East Studies Association, and the International Council for Traditional Music. Her 2022 article on the sonic elements of Lebanese nationalism appeared the the Yearbook for Traditional Music. El Rayes’ work has been supported by the American Council of Learned Societies and the Berkeley Center for Middle Eastern Studies. In addition to her research, El Rayes has been a percussionist in a number of California Bay Area Arabic music ensembles.