MUSIC FESTIVAL

What is the fête de la musique?
It's the day - it's now a firm fixture - when musicians, whether they're amateurs or professionals, can play wherever they want at any time, day or night. They might choose a station concourse, a school playground, the inside of a cathedral or church, a café, the steps of a town hall, historic building or prefecture, a passage-way, a prison and so on. Amateurs, often nervous when they have to sing or play an instrument in public, have the chance to play freely without feeling self-conscious.
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What's more, the festival isn't a financial burden on the Ministry of Culture or regional and municipal authorities. All it requires is a poster, a list of venues across France, information available by phone or on the Internet, the suspension of royalties for the day, and an increase in the number of commuter train, and bus and underground services running until dawn.

Audiences have heard some unique concerts: carte vermeille [similar to the British senior citizens rail card] holders singing Palestrina and Gounod at the bottom of a cul de sac; a 12-year-old playing a concerto for violin and orchestra, with him on the violin and the orchestra broadcasting on 91.70 FM (France Musique music channel); music-hall performers singing in hospitals; a harmonica player in a porte-cochère; two pianists performing a Schubert fantasy on two floors of the same building with the windows wide open; women handing out scores of Kosma's "Si tu t'imagines" or Brassens' "La chanson pour l'auvergnat" to passers-by so that they could sing along with the accordion; percussion bands parading down streets; a concert of Polish music in a church heard by all passers-by; Yiddish songs in a museum under construction; Scandinavian melodies accompanied by a nyckelharpa [traditional Swedish folk instrument] in the garden of a cultural centre; Higelin singing "Beauté crachée" on a tank travelling from Place de la République to Place de la Bastille; folk music in the underground; and a faltering imitation of Freddie Mercury in a school playground.

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While some professionals criticize it for being a gimmick and others complain that it has been taken over by sponsors and media organizations, the fête de la musique gives anyone who wants to the chance to play or listen to absolutely every type of music. A virtually trouble-free festival of over 15 hundred concerts in a single night!

From the FIAP one can literally walk right into the festival!

Text by Christian Dupavillon
Christian Dupavillon is an architect and high-ranking civil servant in the Ministry of Culture. In 1982 he was adviser in the private office of the Culture Minister. The views expressed in this article are those of the author.