Faculty / Staff

Kevin Delgado

  • Assistant Professor of Music
  • Latin Jazz Ensemble director, Latin Percussion
  • Office: M-219
  • Phone: (619) 594-6045 / Fax: (619) 594-1692
  • E-mail: kdel@cox.net

Dr. Kevin Delgado has joined the faculty of the School of Music and Dance as assistant professor of ethnomusicology. His teaching assignments include the Latin American Music Ensemble, Performance Arts & Culture: Latin American Music, Seminar in Music History: Interrelationships in World Music History, the Latin Jazz Ensemble, and a Jazz Combo.

Delgado received his B.M. in music performance from SDSU in 1993 as a bassist and percussionist, where he was awarded the Outstanding Student in Music. He received his M.A. from UCLA’s prestigious Department of Ethnomusicology (1997) and his Ph.D. in 2001 from the same institution.

"In some ways, returning to SDSU feels like coming full circle," he said. "I am back at the university that gave me the opportunity to learn and perform Cuban and Brazilian music, an experience that transformed my life and convinced me to create a career in music."

Delgado has been concentrating on the cultural side of music and is attracted to questions concerning music and identity, spirituality, power, meaning, symbolism and interpretation. "I hope to build upon the tradition of world music that has been a part of the music curriculum at SDSU for many years," he said.

Fieldwork for his dissertation (“Iyseá: Afro-Cuban Music and Culture in Contemporary Cuba”) included four months of independent research in the Cuban cities of Matanzas and Havana during 2000, and involved a combination of interviews, music lessons, archival research and participation in/observation of numerous Afro-Cuban religious ritual events.

During his research, Delgado was ritually initiated into a sacred lineage of Afro-Cuban religious drummers by respected drummer/practitioner Esteban Vega Bacallo, an honor he values as much as any of his university degrees.

Delgado has also served as assistant professor in the Department of Music, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, teaching Music Cultures of the World, Introduction to Latin American Music, Seminar in Caribbean Music and Latin Jazz Workshop.

This past year, under Delgado’s direction, the Latin Jazz Ensemble, performed two noon concerts in Smith Recital Hall to capacity audiences - one in December 2002 and the second in April 2003. The December concert featured SDSU staff member Gene Perry performing vocals, percussion and congas. Delgado and Perry were formerly members of an Afro-Cuban group which was featured at a previous Staff Awards Day when Kevin was a student at SDSU.

Perhaps his greatest achievement this past year was becoming a father to Delilah Jasmine Feldman Delgado in January 2003. Kevin’s wife, Dr. Heidi Feldman, serves as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Music and Dance.