Fete de la Musique - June 21-26

The French have implemented a great way to celebrate the Summer Solstice, La Fete de La Musique, on June 21st and during this entire week.

In 1981, Jack Lang, France's Culture Minister, named Maurice Fleuret as Director of Music and Dance. Maurice Fleuret, composer and journalist, dedicated his life and work to the promotion of contemporary music. He wanted music to be accessible to everyone "Music will be everywhere, and concerts nowhere." He launched a revolution in the music domaine, creating festivals with all styles of music for people of all ages.

En 1982, he commissioned the Cultural Ministry to conduct a nation-wide study of the French and revealed that five million people, of which one out of two were young, played a musical instrument. Even so, musical events at that time concerned only a minority of the French. As a result, Jack Lang and Christian Dupavillon, architect and set designer and member of his cabinet, concluded that the landscape of music practices was yet still be discovered. They envisioned a huge popular event that allowed all musicians to express themselves and to be discovered. This is how the first Fete de la Musique was launched on June 21, 1982, the symbolic day of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.

The preparation for the first year's event was met with trepidation. They announced it to the main social, political and music leaders throughout France. Posters were printed and posted, nobody knew at the Ministry of Culture, how this event would be perceived. The result exceeded all expectations. Thousands of initiatives took place throughout France. Musicians installed themselves everywhere: in the streets, the squares, kiosks, courts, gardens, train states, and thousands of people lined the streets until late at night, in a good-natured atmosphere.

"An event was necessary that permitted us to measure what place music occupied in the individual and collective life in France. A spectacular movement of awareness, a spontaneous gesture to alert public opinion, and even perhaps the political class." This is why the Minister of Culture had the idea to organise La Fete de la Musique in 1982. A non-directive festival that assembled all the French for music to count. "Let's party", "Let's make music", Maurice Fleuret was quoted as saying by Xavier Lacavalerie, in the Telerama, on June 15, 1983.

This union of professional and amateur musicians, this new attention brought to all kinds of music (rock, jazz, traditional music, scholarly music, etc), thus became, across the immediate success of a popular and largely spontaneous gathering, the translation of a politic that intended to take place in the practice of amateurs.

La Fete de la Musique concept starts to be exported in 1985, at the occasion of the European Year of Music and develops thereafter in the form of a charter, the European Festival of Music, signed in Budapest in 1997, and open to all new partners wishing to be associated. The principles of this charter apply however to all countries, even including those outside Europe, who wish to be associated with La Fete de la Musique.

An international success, a societal phenomenon, a postage stamp is consecrated in 1998 for La Fete de la Musique. In 2015, over 120 countries in the world participate in La Fete de la Musique. It also brings new musical trends: renewing traditional music, explosion of world music, development of music chorales, appearance of rap, techno, urban music, etc.

This year's Fete de la Musique is taking place throughout France. Here is a map showing all the locations where music is happening, with links to calendars with specific times/places. Even in nearby Sallanches, the festival is happening! Help celebrate the Summer Solstice in a great way to also show support for the independent musician!