How Bluesfest became "polyjamorous"

Yahoo

6 days ago

There's a new word floating around social media that describes Ottawa Bluesfest perfectly.
Polyjamorous is an adjective that mashes up 'poly,' which is a prefix for many, 'jam,' as in musical jams, and 'amorous,' a state of love. In my mind, it can be applied to anyone who likes different styles of music, or events that showcase a variety of musical genres.
With a head-spinning lineup that veers from country queen Shania Twain to punk legends Green Day to 80s metalheads Def Leppard, Bluesfest is a classic example of a polyjamorous event, and I'm here for all of it.
In fact, I would urge Bluesfest organizers to add a tagline describing it as such in their marketing efforts. Something like: 'Bluesfest: For the polyjamorous.'
That simple change would go a long way towards smoothing out a perennial debate for the 31-year-old festival, which this year runs from July 10-20 at LeBreton Flats Park.
Every summer around this time, people wonder why Bluesfest is still called Bluesfest. The name should change, the purists contend, pointing to the 'token' number of blues acts in the lineup.
Here I want to point out that Bluesfest always has a decent dose of blues, and this year's edition is no exception, although none of it is on the main stage.
Some of the most-anticipated blues acts on the 2025 program include the Ottawa-born, Austin-bred guitar guru Sue Foley, rising Mississippi superstar Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram, soulful blues fusionist Fantastic Negrito, B.B. King-inspired singer-guitarist D.K. Harrell and Darrell Nulisch, the singer and harmonica player who was a key member of James Cotton's band.
The thriving Ottawa blues scene is also represented, featuring ska-blues bandleader D.B. Cohen, singer-guitarist JW-Jones, and harmonica mistress Catriona Sturton, while Canadian blues acts such as Garnetta Cromwell & DaGroovmasters, Chambers-Deslauriers, Andre Bisson and Rosie's Smokehouse Deluxe are also part of the fun.
Still, those of a certain age look back with fondness on the early days of Bluesfest in the 1990s, when there was one stage and it was filled with shows by blues legends such as Buddy Guy, Clarence Gatemouth Brown and Ray Charles.
Funnily enough, the bluesworthiness discussion actually started in 1994, the first year of Bluesfest, as sticklers ranted about Buckwheat Zydeco and Randy Bachman not being bluesy enough for a blues festival.
Their argument gained steam as the programming shifted at the turn of the century. The 2000 edition of Bluesfest featured a headlining performance by Sting, marking the first time the festival booked a pop superstar. The move sparked a fresh round of grumbling about Bluesfest being invaded by pop music.
As you may recall, the Sting show was a huge success and a significant turning point. It not only demonstrated that organizers could handle a major international act but also paved the way for a contingent of top-tier acts to appear in subsequent years. Corporate sponsorship increased and attendance grew.
Over the years, the stable of superstars booked at the festival expanded to include rapper Kanye West, rockers White Stripes, pop diva Lady Gaga, electro maestro Skrillex, hip-hop mogul Snoop Dogg, hard-rockers KISS and many more. Attendance swelled to 20,000-plus each night.
Early in this multi-genre programming approach, festival boss Mark Monahan realized the pop acts sold a level of tickets that helped subsidize the blues content.
'I'm going to do what I have to do to ensure that I can get the blues acts that I want,' Monahan said in a 2003 interview. 'Without the more mainstream, big shows, we would never be at the point where our entertainment budget is at $1.4 million. The big acts make that happen because, realistically, the pure blues audience just isn't big enough to provide that sort of monetary base.'
If you ask him now why the organization has kept the Bluesfest name, he will outline the importance of maintaining a widely recognized and highly regarded 31-year-old brand.
'I think we're resigned to the fact that it's 31 years now and and even if it's another 31 years it'll still be a topic of discussion,' Monahan said. 'But yeah, I do think the debate helps promote the festival.'
Fair enough, I say. But there are still people like Dalton Holloway, a public servant with a marketing background, who submitted a letter to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen earlier this year, describing the Bluesfest moniker as 'grossly misleading.'
'I think we owe it to the artists, visitors and ourselves to have a moment of honesty,' Holloway wrote. 'It's time to rebrand Ottawa's biggest festival. A name that fully encompasses the diversity of artists and talent that serenades this city.'
He didn't have a suggestion, so I dug up a 2024 Reddit thread on the topic in hopes of finding some ideas. The only one I saw was the unimaginative General Music Fest. Yawn.
This brings us back to the polyjamorous descriptor. I like it because it reflects how most people listen to music these days. Thanks to the prevalence of streaming services, music fans can check out any style that strikes our fancy at any time.
It's a far cry from the pre-Internet age when identities were defined and friendships forged through the type of music one sought out and listened to, whether it was metal or punk or new wave or blues or rock. Friend groups tended to form around specific musical tastes and stick together. (For the record, I was in the blues crowd in high school.)
Those days are long gone and I'm not sad about it. Nor do I have concerns about the relevance of the name. From my perspective, Bluesfest was ahead of its time in opening up our relationship with music.
Let's face it. We're all polyjamorous now, and Bluesfest is our annual celebration of genre-hopping abundance.
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