DoubleLife: Fête de la Musique

Yesterday was the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. In Paris, this means 16 hours and 11 minutes of daylight. The sun was still a little shy, spending a good part of the day playing hide and seek with some rather dark clouds. But the temperature did get up to 21° (that's about 69° F for those of you who don't do Celsius) and it didn't rain as predicted. It would have been disappointing if it had because, as all who live in France know, the first day of summer is the Fête de la Musique.
This was launched by Jacques Lang, President François Mitterand's first Minister of Culture in 1982. The idea was to celebrate music, all kinds of music. And not to reserve performing to professionals in concert halls which charge a lot of money, but to encourage anybody and everybody to go out in the street and make music. In fact, the first slogan for it was "Faites de la musique; Fête de la musique". (For the non-French speakers among you, the words 'Faites' and 'Fête 'are pronounced exactly the same. The approximate translation of the phrase is "Make music; celebrate music".) During the first years, there were few organized concerts; people just showed up with their instruments or their choir in squares and parks where there were sure to be other people to listen to them. The idea caught on immediately and the Fête de Musique quickly became an institution.
As the years have passed, there are more and more organized concerts in specific venues where people can come inside and sit down. You can plan your day and evening by going to the official Fête de la Musique website, input the town or city you are interested in and the type of music you like and download a complete program of what is happening, when and where. For several years, the Louvre has subsidized a concert by the Orchestra of Paris inside the Pyramid. This year, the Orsay Museum had one, too. But even the organized concerts are relatively short (an hour maximum) and free. And there are still plenty of people out in the parks and squares or in cafés and restaurants. It's a wonderful day to wander in Paris. Below, you'll find some pictures I took of some of the musicians I heard yesterday. Sorry I can't provide the sound.

Musician seeking concert venue -- and the day begins.