History of International Music Day 🎵
What started in 1982 as a way to promote live music in France, is now a full-fledged global phenomenon across 130 countries, officially marking the start of Summer.
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Happy Monday Everyone!
If you happen to be reading this north of the equator 🌏, today officially marks the start of Summer, or what geographers call: Summer Solstice- the longest day of the year☀️
Incidentally, today also marks the 39th Anniversary of the Fête de la musique, also known in English as Make Music Day or International Music Day.
With over 130 countries and over 1,000 cities participating in the festival across the world; the goal of Fête de la Musique, or Make Music Day, is to provide thousands of free concerts throughout the day and promote music 🎸
How exactly?
👉🏻 Amateur and professional musicians are encouraged to perform in the streets, under the slogan "Faites de la musique" (‘Make music’).
👉🏻 Many free concerts are organized, making all genres of music accessible to the public. The condition here is that all concerts must be free to the public, and all performers donate their time free of charge.
But how did this festival come into existence, and become a global movement to mark the start of Summer?
Back in October 1981, French composer and music journalist- Maurice Fleuret became Director of Music and Dance at the request of Jack Lang- who held the position of Minister of Culture in the French Administration.
Having said to be obsessed by the desire to ‘understand contemporary music’ Fleuret applied his reflections to the musical practice and its evolution. His hypothesis roughly translated into "the music everywhere and the concert nowhere", signifying the lack of public music festivals and concerts, despite the demand for music everywhere.
When he discovered, in a 1982 study on the cultural habits of the French, that five million people or one young person out of two, played a musical instrument, he began to dream of a way to bring people out on the streets to celebrate music.
And so, the first such public event took place in 1982 in Paris as the Fête de la Musique 👇🏻
Ever since, the festival has become an international phenomenon, celebrated on the same day in countries, including China, India, Germany, Italy, Greece, Russia, Australia, Brazil, the United States, the UK, and Japan.
Music has been known to be a natural healer in times of distress, and last night saw the return of Rock to the famous Madison Square Garden in New York, with around 20,000 vaccinated people listening to American comedian Dave Chapelle singing the Radiohead song, ‘Creep’ with the 12-time Grammy award-winning band ‘Foo Fighters’ on stage 👇🏻
Slowly but surely, the world seems to be headed back to normalcy, and a packed Foo Fighters concert at the Madison Square Garden attests to the same 🤘🏻
My favorite quote on music?
Who can argue with the guy who formulated the general theory of relativity 🤷♂️