Between Tradition and New Horizons Migrant Music

Lab: Migration, Art, & Place: Berlin/U.S., Spring 2023
Instructors: Christiane Reves, Claudia Sadowski-Smith
Type: Performance
Tags: music culture, Music
Team: Bayley Helfrich, Calista Stanley, Emiliano Lahi, Justin Feldewerth, Kosta Katergaris, Mason Davis, Olivia Zeitlin


Learn more about this Lab


About the outcome

Our project proposes to organize a concert on the ASU campus with local musicians who are first and second generation immigrants. We aim to showcase their music to help illuminate the local dimensions of migrant experiences. We will also record interviews with the musicians to display on a website, in order to promote and bring awareness to the impact migrants have on music culture within the greater Metro Phoenix Area.


About the team

Bayley Helfrich is a junior studying Biomedical Engineering with a minor in German. He looks forward to exploring the unifying impact of music in our community, as he's seen throughout his life the power of music to bring people of different backgrounds together.

Calista Stanley is currently a junior at ASU, studying Supply Chain Management and German. Having immigrated to the States around 4 years ago, as a junior in high school, working on a project that ties her experiences into something her family and she have always enjoyed; music is very meaningful to her. Through this project, she hopes that they can spread awareness of different migrant groups in our community; to understand their struggles with the hope of one day alleviating them.

Emiliano Lahi's major is Business Finance. She's a transfer sophomore student with this being her first year at ASU. Music has always been a very passionate subject for her and has gotten her out of a lot of tough times personally. She learned how to play her first instrument in the 8th grade which was the ukulele in her music class. Putting on this event has been a very valuable experience for her working with other group members and planning an event of this size has been a great opportunity.

Justin Feldewerth is originally from Denver, Colorado. He grew up with a passion for airplanes and all things aviation. This led him to begin his aviation career in 6th grade and he is now a commercially rated pilot. Along with aviation, he has long had a passion for athletics. This began with endurance sports which led him to the sport of triathlon. This season he's racing for the Castelli triathlon team at the Arizona State Championship and the USA Triathlon National Championship. He is passionate about languages and language learning and chess is his favorite game.

Kosta Katergaris is a junior at ASU who currently studying computer science with a focus on Software engineering. Music has always been an art form that spoke the most to him over other art forms. He has taken many music history classes and is excited to discover how immigrants have impacted music.

Mason Davis's major is Interdisciplinary studies, specifically Business and Sports Ethics. All his life he has been inspired by music and this has led to my fascination with music in other cultures. Through this project, they hope to bring awareness to groups in our community that celebrate different cultures and backgrounds.

Olivia Zeitlin is a Sophomore pursuing concurrent degrees in German & Communication. Her involvement with ASU organizations, specifically her leadership position in Album Listening Club and position on Blaze Radio, has been influential in raising my awareness about music culture. Throughout her life, she has always been drawn to music, and her goal with this project is to learn how migration impacts music culture within the Phoenix community.