La Fete de Musique

Tuesday the 21st, for those not in touch with the natural world, was the longest day of the year, commonly known as Midsummer. To some this means rituals, to others staying up all night to see the sun rise again is the objective, to the French it has become a festival. I can’t tell you the origins of the festival without looking them up, but midsummer is celebrated in Marseille through a Fete de Musique. On this day anyone can play any music they like, anywhere, anyhow, any time without jurisdiction.

Walking through Marseille last night after seeing a friend off to the airport, the streets were alive. In some sections life went on as normal, notably the Algerian section near St Charles, but in others music was being performed in a variety of locations. I walked into the city centre and around the Vieux (old) Port area and was amazed at the number of people out and about. It was a cross between a huge demonstration and a street party for numbers. I stopped beside a backstreet bar where an electro-rock band were performing covers (rather well I might add) to a 100 or so people – many drinking, some dancing, everyone enjoying the music. In other places there were little groups performing their version of music from hymns to a hiphop DJ beside the port, African drums to a full-blown orchestra on a purpose-built stage. The orchestra had an audience of at least 1000 people in a square, all watching for free, just like all the other music. Other notable musicians included an appalling one man playing over a vocal backing track and singing along in time; and a pick-up truck that pulled up at the busiest traffic-lights on the front, stopped and turned on a sound system complete with DJ and seven dancers on the back of the truck. This rapidly turned into a throng of 500+ people blocking most of the traffic and dancing outside of a ‘quality burger’ chain of restaurant. Ten or fifteen minutes later the car horns became irate and the truck moved onto another location. All in all, in the right locations you could walk for 30 seconds and get another genre of music to stop and listen to or avoid. The whole evening was certainly memorable.

Surrounding this mayhem you had all the standard street sellers marketing their wares. No I don’t need a pair of sunglasses at 11pm thanks! No, a flashing light-saber/rotating toy is not what I want. There were also many people taking advantage of the evening dragging around a coolbox hastily attached to an old person’s shopping trolley base selling cans of soft drinks at €1+ a time. There was also a wide range of ages of people out and about from the teenagers, through students, families with their small children, adult groups and even some old people looking on with interest or enjoying a meal in a restaurant and listening along to the music too.

Finally I had the general impression that there were a number of people on the lookout for a cheap steal of a wallet or phone, but by keeping my things firmly in front of me I don’t think anyone tried. I guess it happens everywhere, but it more or less obvious to the tourist or passer-by.

If I am in a French city on June 21^st next year I shall once again be wandering the streets looking for a party and enjoying random musical performances. This country holds many surprises for the inexperienced!