Review: The Paris Fete de la Musique

Strolling from locale to locale, the music could be literally anything from children performing Chopin, to French hipsters doing their best MGMT impression, to Belly Dancing, to androgynous Prince impersonators, to nine year old Brittany Spears wannabes, and of course – French jazz. Honestly, a lot of the performances are plain bad, but it’s not hard at all to find something you like; you just keep walking.

At one point in the early afternoon, an anarchist-led Iran protest interrupted the music. Bands were forced to hold off momentarily as the helicopters, hordes of mollusk-like police officers and the ensuing tear gas got a little hectic, but within an hour it was as though nothing had happened and it was back to the music.

The city also hosts a more staged affair in the Central Park-esque equivalent, Bois de Boulogne, which played host to a whole host of big, mostly terrible, celebrities including Chris Issac, Kelly Rowland, Jason Mraz and Seal as well as a number of big French pop stars. We actually trucked to the far reaches of the park to take in the teeny-bopper affair and were stuck by the amazing coordination of the large scale concert. Despite being nestled about 40 minutes deep by foot in the massive park, the city offered seamless free buses to and from the venue with clockwork precision. Despite hosting a massive crown the vending, bathrooms, and transportation posed no glitches whatsoever.

[Photo via Fete de la musique Flickr]

As the day becomes night, the real fun begins as the wine flows and the city envelops in madness. People from all walks of life share their jolly, inebriated dance moves with the world, allowing the more coherent on-lookers to watch and laugh as the unintentional comedy reaches new heights. In a city a bit too well known for its snootiness, exclusivity and manners, at this city-wide dance party, everybody got invited and if there was any judgment passed, we sure didn’t see it.

Since its humble beginnings in France, the Fete de La Musique has now inspired June 21st to become known as World Music Day and the festival now takes place simultaneously in over 300 cities worldwide from Kosovo to Kalamazoo. For tourists, the Fete de la Musique is probably not incentive to take a trip to Paris specifically for the festival, but should the Fete coincide with some preexisting travel plans, it makes for one really fun day.

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