The Fete de la Musique', also known as World Music Day, is a music festival taking place on June 21. World Music Day is a day on which the world celebrates the magical gift of music.
The idea of the World Music Day was conceptualized first in France in 1976 by American musician Joel Cohen who proposed an all-night music celebration to mark the beginning of the summer solstice.
The idea was taken up by French Music and Dance director Maurice Fleuret for Minister of Culture Jack Lang in 1981 and first took place in 1982 in Paris.
Ever since, the festival has become an international phenomenon, celebrated on the same day in more than 460 cities in 110 countries, including Germany, Italy, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Australia, Vietnam, Congo, Cameroon, Fiji, Colombia, Chile, Nepal, and Japan.
Its purpose is to promote music in two ways:
- Amateur and professional musicians are encouraged to perform in the streets. The slogan Faites de la musique (Make music), a homophone of Fete de la Musique, is used to promote this goal.
- Many free concerts are organized, making all genres of music accessible to the public. Two of the caveats to being sanctioned by the official Fete de la Musique organization in Paris are that all concerts must be free to the public, and all performers donate their time for free. This is true of most participating cities, now, as well.
Despite there being a large tolerance about the performance of music by the general public of amateurs in public areas after usual hours, the noise restrictions still apply, and can cause some establishments to be forbidden to open and broadcast music out of their doors without prior authorization. So the prefectures of police in France can still forbid them to install any audio hardware in the street.
