La Fête de la Musique

Didn’t we have fun!

La Fête de la Musique is a huge musical “party” that has France movin’ and groovin’. (Doesn’t that sound old fashioned?) It was initiated in 1982 by the French Ministry for Culture and is now held in hundreds of countries on the first day of summer each year. All musicians play for free and the genre runs from classical to techno.

Let me tell you how we enjoyed it. First, we decided to stop in at one of our favourite little bistros for a glass of wine at the bar. On our way, we encountered a French horn group. There must have been 20 of them and we stopped and listened a while. At Le Petit Verdot, we had our drinks, promising to return later for dinner and headed out into the streets of our neighbourhood again. We meandered listening to a Jamaican band at the Southwest Café, a rock group at Dada Café, a trio singing English pop at Place Ternes and a techno group at Place Tristan Bernard. At this last place, free tins of Pringles Gourmet Thai Sweet Chilli and Lemongrass flavoured chips were being handed out. They were good. It was around 9:00 p.m. and the streets were full of families with excited children who were having great fun dancing. Heading back to Le Petit Verdot, we heard several other groups including jazz and the French horns again who were moving about the neighbourhood. Most bands were set up on the sidewalks.

On our way home after dinner, we passed several more bands but headed back to the Jamaicans. There was a crowd of adults dancing in the street and we joined in and danced until midnight. Continuing our walk home, we stopped in at Stephane and Patricia’s, a little Italian, family-style bistro run by a brother and sister. The name of the place is actually Parigi Val di Taro! They had moved all the tables aside and were dancing to taped music. We had a quick dance with the owners and this time, we really went home. As we walked, I said, “J’aime mon quartier” – “I love my neighbourhood” and a couple walking ahead turned around and said “Nous aussi”- “So do we”.
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by Deborrah
1:13:00 AM
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