Image of Niva Flor sourced from HugLife Website

The WAM Shop is so excited to announce a new partnership with Niva Flor, a radiant ethnomusicologist, vocal performer, candlemaker, and a sound healer based out of California. Flor developed her love for music early on, and now uses that love to create products and services for healing. You can find the links to her offered services, as well as the products the WAM Shop will be carrying, on her website.

Images sourced from HugLife Website

Flor has a PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of California Los Angeles. So, just what is ethnomusicology? According to the society for ethnomusicology, it is the study of music within its cultural context. Ethnomusicologists approach music as a social process, seeking to understand the diverse meanings of music for its practitioners and audiences, and how those meanings are conveyed sound. The foundation of ethnomusicology is a global approach, an understanding of music as a social practice, and an engagement in ethnography and historical research.

In addition to studying ethnomusicology, Niva Flor is a practitioner of Nada Yoga and radical self love. She is inspired by the Afro-diasporic musical traditions and sounds of Brazil, West Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, India, and North American Blues and Soul. Using the sounds that inspire her and the sounds she makes herself, she is working to create a soundscape for personal expansion, universal love, and healing.

Images sourced from HugLife Website

HugLife belongs in the WAM Shop for many reasons. It’s a business with deep roots in arts and culture, that promotes mindfulness, sustainability, and self-care, all values that are important to the WAM Collective. The candles, with scents like ginger brew, whiskey and leather, and mint julep, are perfect for creating a lovely ambience in your home or giving as a gift to someone you care about.  It’s also a wonderful opportunity to #BuyBlack. #BuyBlack is a movement dating back to Civil rights activists Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey, which encourages African-Americans to create and do business within their own community, and urges allies to support the community through economically supporting businesses owned by men and women of color. The WAM is excited to be welcoming HugLife by Niva Flor into the shop.