We started the World Music Collider series to explode the old concept of “world music” and replace it with a new kind of party for a transnational, borderless world. That awkward dynamic: the audience as impartial observer to the exotic — is annihilated on a postmodern dance floor with a clearly articulated thesis for intercultural collision: each of us are living in our own little backwater unless we check out each other’s fiestas. The line you often hear is deeply true: Music is a universal language.

The exotification of “foreign” music sometimes does a jarring thing: it puts the artists on stage and forces the audience into seats. Sure, that’s fine for sit-down music. But so many of the sounds that humans create are specifically for dancing. Something vital is lost if folks don’t move their skeletons.

Colliders happen quarterly, more or less. They are extended sessions with multiple full-length performances, like mini-festivals. The series started in 2018 in the Williamsburg Grange and has since moved up and down the Valley, exploring different venues.

The Happy Valley is perched midway between two generous musical cosmopoli — New York City and Montreal — and the Planetary Party is our monthly commitment to making sure Easthampton gets a piece of the action. We invite NYC and Boston-based bands to come up and spread their wings a little. And it’s also a commitment to global music artists passing through: Guess what? Western Mass is actually a reliably exciting off-ramp for you. It’s sort of rural here but pleasantly so. And we’re ready to party. Even on a Wednesday.

Planetary Parties feature music from everywhere, just as long as it’s warm and funky and can get a room moving. They happen monthly at New City Brewery (dates vary). They’re mostly standing-room with very limited seating. A rotating cast of local DJs provide pre-show ambience and bass-heavy afterparties once the live sets are over.