"Faites de la musique, Fête de la Musique" Which means "Make music, celebrate Music".
Today is France's national celebration called the "Fete de la Musique". It happens every year on June 21st, the longest day of the year - summer solstice. And this is no "Memorial Day" that gets shifted to the convenient Monday for the long wkend in America - whatever day of the week is June 21st, be it Friday night or Monday, let the festivities be!
The story is such: In 1982, the Minister of Art and Culture (or something like that), a man named Jack Lang who is still alive, and a bit of an icon, decided that to celebrate music on the solstice would be appropriate. He said something like there should be "music everywhere, and concerts no where to be found" - or something profound like that. As a result, the whole dang country goes wild today.
My first year in France I left before June 21st and thus was oblivious to the whole thing. But Year #2, watch out. It was one long night, full of a sort of Greek Chorus Bacchae feeling. One huge outdoor party with music everywhere. I mean everywhere. There are massive stages set up, and just random people with guitars or drums scattered around. The old town of Nice become a maze of sounds, sort of like bouncing around from one speaker to another. The police look the other way on pretty much everything as long as no one is getting hurt. Probably what Woodstock was in '69. On some level what Bread and Puppet in Vermont used to be before it shut down.
But here in Europe, things are still loosey goosey, and this one day of the year to just let your hair down in public is a rite of passage.
Estelle and I walked the port today and watched the police barracading all the piers to stop any waywards from jumping into the water. I said to one "but you don't barricade the beaches? What's the difference?" I was told people could walk out of the water on the beach. And besides, there are private boats here (I'm sure THAT's the real reason).
Here are photos of Estelle having her own Fete de la Musique in our apt at dinner time, listening to an old American fave, Woody Guthrie's songs for children.
