Dave Robb, Reader in Music at Queen’s University Belfast, is also a bouzouki player and songwriter. As part of an AHRC Fellowship he has been translating songs of the East German protest singer Gerhard Gundermann.  The songs are currently being recorded for a CD release. 

Gundermann, who worked as a coal miner while simultaneously enjoying a successful music career, died prematurely at the age of 43 in 1998. His songs vividly illustrate the characters in his working world with its unchanging class relationships. They also deal with themes such as emigration in a world under threat from war and environmental exploitation.

Dave was previously a member of the Scottish folk group Rua with whom he toured internationally. He was also the support for the Proclaimers on their Sunshine on Leith tour back in 1988. He lived and performed in Berlin during the 1990s where he wrote his PhD dissertation on the East German political song scene. He was appointed at QUB in January 1999.