POLYJAMORY

SO, POLYJAMORY

… when read quickly, might allude to the act of having multiple romantic relationships. This is neither something that I can advise on nor a topic that I wish to explore here.

Rather, “POLYJAMORY”, as I interpret it, is the idea of engaging with a vast array of musical genres within your life because if you don’t you are simply missing out. There are great folds of musical traditions that require time, effort, and luck to discover. Their obscurity, however, is not a result of their nature but a consequence of modern popular culture’s narrow gaze.

POLYJAMORY will shed light on the often-overlooked musical traditions that linger beneath the mainstream conversation. I’ll dive into their histories, features, and futures in an attempt to get YOU to similarly explore musical traditions that we’re lucky enough to have access to. You might even find a new favourite band or song along the way.

Articles, if all goes to plan, will be released on SUNDAYS at 16:00PM GMT, biweekly. Each one will explore different musical traditions from around the world that, in my opinion, deserve more attention. An accompanying song/soundtrack will be provided, because what’s worse than reading about music without music? They won’t be a painful read (I hope) and won’t take up your whole afternoon. The musical traditions that POLYJAMORY will explore include:

• North African Desert Blues (+ story time from a recent trip to the Sahara)
• Classical Music inspired by Antarctica (yes it weirdly exists)
• The Habibi Funk Record Label and Arab Funk
• Malian music inspired by the ancient Empire of the Mandinka
• Japanese Indie Folk
• South African Jazz Piano
• Music born from the Moog Synthesiser
• Traditional Irish Folk
• Jamaican Mento, Ska, and Rocksteady
• Ambient Electronica
• Icelandic Americana
• Armenian Duduk
• Hungarian Rock
• Mexican Ranchera
• Saxo-Classical/Renaissance Jazz

These articles are born from a personal and academic passion for global musical traditions. I hope they are informative for you, or at the very least interesting and something to pass the time with. Fear not, absolutely no AI will be used.

Thank you for reading and sit tight.

-Artie Nicholson