Irene Markoff teaches music in the Department of Music at York University, Toronto, and also contributes to the graduate programs in music and anthropology. Since 1981, her research and many publications have focused primarily on Alevi/Bektaşi religiosity, performance practice, rituals, and identity politics in Turkey and, more recently, Bulgaria and Canada. Markoff is known for her performances of Alevi vocal repertoire and the accompaniment she provides on the sacred plucked lute, the bağlama.