In Poland, as queer groups and allies face a rising threat of violence and hate, the Oramics collective chose to respond with music. The result: a sprawling compilation of 121 tracks and international outpouring of support.
I definitely want to encourage you to grab the compilation, but also want to take this opportunity to give you a tour through some of the music here – including from some lesser-known and underground and Polish artists. So alongside some known international figures, like Peder Mannerfelt, Object Blue, Borusaide, Lee Gamble, Electric Indigo, and Rrose, you’ll get an excellent sampling of artists involved in Poland’s underground and queer communities. We’re fortunate that in dark and challenging times, we have music and emotion and celebratory and powerful sound, and not just, you know, the news.
This is not an abstract battle or “culture war”: in Poland as in an alarming number of places, basic rights of expression and safety are under assault, backed even by mainstream media and religious and governmental leaders. That’s put artists who I’ve worked with personally under real pressure and danger, among many others. It’s something you feel on a visceral level not only in Poland but in the fabric of the electronic music scene outside of the country, as well.
Out now, the “Total Solidarity” compilation gives sonic, musical form to a growing chorus of solidarity and protest. That network has brought together collectives, artists, curators, press, activist organizations, and concerned friends in a network inside and outside of the country. Total Solidarity demonstrates how deep that network is, and how many people have been touched by the political struggle and by these artists.
Over 100 tracks from the Polish underground and international electronic music scene come together on the digital release, available for fifty bucks on Bandcamp (or individually, by track). Poland’s Oramics collective joins Tilburg, Netherlands’ Drvg Cvltvre, who runs the label New York Haunted. The funds raised go directly to organizations battling homophobia and supporting queer communities.
“I think it is very important to show that music scene and culture will never accept hatred,” Justyna from Oramics tells us. “This was one of the main goals of this compilation – to gather people from all over the world and show support,” she says. “This symbolic support, kind of artistic / curatorial gesture of solidarity was the main goal I guess – all this which lies beyond fame, mainstream, underground and genre borders. This is the biggest success.”
Here are some highlights, and places to find more.
Justyna also shared some picks. “It was one of the goals to combine artists from literally everywhere,” she says. “Of course, it is important that we have so many amazing internationally acclaimed artists, because they are giving us all the incredible press — but how amazing it is to give some more visibility to those less known, but also super-talented.” Hell, yeah.
Here are a few of those picks – and I have to second these nominations.
Astma: Duy Gebord: Calum Gunn: Kaltstam: Mchy i Porosty: Ostrowski: Satin de Compostela: Warrego Valles: Wojciech Kurek:I have listened to the whole compilation and love the whole thing, but to highlight even some more people, particularly those close to this scene, whose tracks really moved me:
Doc Sleep’s work I wrote about recently: ISNT has this dirty, noisy beauty: 3-3-3 is a punk-ish banger from Dyktanto of Brutaz: FOQL’s aptly named “Colony Collapse” is some delicious oddball mayhem from Justyna herself: There’s some genius, futuristic apocalypse going on in the music of Oramics’ Mala Herba: RSS BOYS and Eltron will be familiar to anyone following the Polish scene, but if not – know them! Electric Indigo added a smartly constructed electronic opus that CDM readers shouldn’t miss – Susanne being both a legend in the scene as an artist and founder of female pressure, which has been a template for many female/femme/activist groups since: Isabella’s chimey, crystalline creation sounds a bit like that cover art looks: Dr. Rey mastered over a hundred tracks to make this compilation happen, and their contribution is eerie and beautiful: Oh yeah, and I’m in there, too.https://oramicspl.bandcamp.com/
Do go buy it whether by individual track or the whole compilation if you can. It reaches people in need:
All proceeds from the digital sales will support Polish queer organizations: Kampania Przeciw Homofobii and Miłość Nie Wyklucza, who monitor homophobia, provide all kind of support for queer people and have agreed to help us redistribute the proceeds throughout LGBTQIA+ organizations in smaller cities and towns of Poland, who need them the most.
We will be in touch with Oramics to hear how these organizing efforts are going, and what else the electronic music community can do there – and worldwide – to support people’s safety. It’s expressive freedom that has brought us to music and music technology, so if that’s not what we’re in the business of supporting, I’m not sure what we are doing.
Beto O’Rourke said recently of the hate and mass shooting in his hometown that we’ve lost “any illusion that we had that progress is inevitable or that the change that we need is going to come of its own accord.” This gives us a sense of how we can choose something other than an illusion – hope, and action.
For those near Berlin – Polish-born Rey for their part will also be leading their project The Womb, with a summer symposium for female-identified, non-binary and queer creatives and entrepreneurs, on 31 August. Kudos to Rey for this epic mastering job; see Uferlos Studios for more.
For more Oramics action, here’s the latest Behind The Stage podcast, with Szkoda:
More reading:
I got to write about Oramics a couple of times before:
And see also my chat with Dyktando, who also contributed to this compilation, from when I got to play with him last summer:
https://oramicspl.bandcamp.com/