Speaking for Ourselves

Michael B. Bakan is Professor of Ethnomusicology at Florida State University. His more than fifty publications include the books World Music: Traditions and Transformations and Music of Death and New Creation, as well as articles and book chapters on topics ranging from the ethnomusicology of autism to cinematic music and postmodernism. Bakan serves on the Board of Directors of the Society for Ethnomusicology and as series editor for the Routledge Focus on World Music book series. As a percussionist, he has performed with John Cage, Tito Puente, Rudolf Serkin, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, and several leading gamelan groups in Bali, Indonesia.

Kaleo Griffith is a classically trained, multiple award-winning voice artist and actor living in Los Angeles. He has been called "powerful, with the presence of a young Timothy Dalton" by the Hollywood Reporter. Kaleo graduated cum laude from Franklin Pierce University with a BA in Theatre, holds an MFA in acting from Rutgers University, and is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He has also lived and trained classically in the U.K. through Roger Williams University. His film and television credits include Oliver Stone's Talk Radio, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, Diagnosis X, and All My Children, as well as hosting on HGTV. He has performed in over fifty professional theatrical productions across the country, including at the Pasadena Playhouse and South Coast Repertory Theatre, working with veterans like Richard Chamberlain, Jessica Walter, and Lois Nettleton. His voice work encompasses many commercial campaigns and audiobooks. Kaleo won two Audiofile Earphones Awards for his narration work on Pamela Clare's Extreme Exposure and Pulitzer Prize finalist Karen Russell's Vampires in the Lemon Grove.