Transcript for Traditions iconiques - Fête de la musique - Revisited

Bonjour, dear listeners. For this special season of the Doole Lingo French podcast, we are celebrating the arts. We're revisiting some of our favorite episodes featuring singers, dancers, actors, and other performers in the Francophone world. Today's episode is from June 2020, and tells the story of an iconic French tradition. La Fête de la musique. Every year on June 21st, streets all over France open up for a 9th of music, dancing, and high spirits. Our storyteller, Fanny, has a unique relationship with this musical holiday. Keep listening to hear her story and stick around until the end to hear how Fanny celebrated this year's Fett de la musique. It's June 21, 1988, and today is Venice 13th birthday. To celebrate, her parents are taking her to visit Paris for the very first time. When she gets there, she can't believe her eyes, or ears.

Paris is celebrating a special holiday. La Fette de la musique. And for the occasion, the city has turned into a giant festival. Music is everywhere, alone musician or a band stands on every street, every corner. And Fanny and her parents have just arrived in the heart of Paris's student corner, the bustling Guartiletto.

Fanny is fascinated by all this strange music and the joy she sees on every face. But what pleases her most is her belief that this beloved national holiday is for her. She is convinced that everybody is here to celebrate her 13th birthday. It's a belief that will shape her relationship to La Fête de la musique, for the rest of her life.

Bienvenue, and welcome to the dual-lingue French podcast, I'm GoFan Poudouare. This season, to help you improve your listening skills and gain a deeper understanding of France, we're exploring iconic French traditions. The tradition in Könique Française. Together we'll be taking a close look at the daily rituals, Savoir faire and big celebrations that make the French way of life. The storyteller will be using intermediate French, and I'll be timing in for context in English. If you miss something, you can always get back and listen again. We also offer full transcripts at podcast at duelingo.com. In today's episode, we're headed to Paris and Lille. To learn how to celebrate France's most recent holiday, La Fête de la musique. La Fête de la musique, or music day, is a French tradition that has spread across the world. Every year, 700 cities and 120 countries celebrate musicians and music making. But it all started in France in the early 80s with a political revolution.

The new socialist president wanted to change society, so he launched many bold projects, some targeting the economy and others aimed at French culture. Metehran was fond of the arts, so he commissioned a glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum, and his minister of culture created a new national holiday.

But in 1982, when the government came up with a new holiday, Fanny had a difficult year. Her father had just remarried. She felt she had to share everything with her sister, her brother, and now stepmother and two additional siblings.

Vanie made sure everybody at school knew about her birthday. That year she was turning seven. So when her school teacher, Samitress, mentioned that date in class, Vanie listened carefully.

The teacher laughed, and she explained that June 21st was also the summer solstice, the first day of summer, in the longest day of the year. In the French countryside, that night had traditionally been celebrated with big bonfires and wild dancing. But now it would be the day for people all around the country to express their creativity through music.

The fact of the music, at all, is a great success.

Fannie grew up with La Fête de la musique, and every year the party grew bigger. Soon it wasn't just people taking to the streets, radio stations, and local mayors organized big concerts. You could even hear choirs, the gohail, sing. Some people would take a day off to enjoy La Fête to the fullest.

Little by little, Fanny got to take part in the fun. First, she went with her parents. Then she followed her older siblings to see different musicians in their hometown. In France, on June 21, the sun goes down at 10 p.m. So it's fairly safe for teenagers to go out much later than usual. For high schoolers, the night is a right of passage. Fannie grew up in Lille, a big city in the north of France with a large sensual square, Lagromplasse. And when she turned 15, her parents gave her permission to stay out until sundown, the night of music day.

After the big, thumping concert, Fannie and her friends went to a bar. It was her big brother's favorite bar, so Fanny felt very safe there. She listened to rock music, and she enjoyed being allowed to hang out with the grown-ups.

As the night was coming to an end, Fanny felt so happy. The air was warm, and the sunset was orange and purple. The rock music was something, everyone was grooving. And Fanny wanted to brag that it was all thanks to her. After all, I fed the music, was her holiday. But then suddenly, in that moment, it dawned on her.

After all, he was a man with connections and friends who worked in politics. But now, the teenager, she was struck with an epiphany. La Fête de la musique wasn't actually for her. She believed it as a child. And since then, she had never thought to question it. But now, she wanted to confront her father. Funny realized that it had just been a joke. La Fête de la Musique had nothing to do with a birthday. She felt silly and so embarrassed. How could she have believed this for so long?

But Fanny also realized she never enjoyed this kind of dinner on her own birthday. She'd always celebrated in a bar or at a concert. And because the North of France is a beer country, she drank beers at refreshment stands. They'd be wet and ate fries at food stands in the streets to celebrate La Fête de la musique.

And then... A young university student who played bass guitar, de la Basse, entered Fanny's life. And once again, her birthday took on a different meaning.

The band had five musicians, including a keyboardist, a player of the keyboard, and a drummer, a drummer.

By the time Fanny was in her mid 20s, the band had developed their own repertoire in their own sound. It was a mix of jazz and alternative rock. They called themselves Spectrum Orchistrum. Fanny loved their music.

Every Fett du la musique in Lille, a lot of bands take to the streets, and it's hard to capture people's attention. There's always another band playing down the street. Plus radio stations bring some big names and build large stages and parks with a big thumping loud speakers. But Fanny and the band knew there were a lot of potential fans for Spectrum Orchestra.

but it had the potential to funnel in large crowds from the main street. So they asked the owner of the garage to let them set up there.

The show started around 7 p.m. The band began playing and people trickled in, and then came the crucial moment. Spectrum, orchestrum, had to convince people who'd plan to go ban harping on night, to stay put and listen.

And at some point, the music changed.

The concert in the alley became a new birthday tradition for Fanny at La Fête de la musique. Every June 21st, Spectrum Orchestra returned to Renaissance Street and played their latest and greatest songs. And every year, Fanny's friends and family showed up to celebrate her birthday.

Spectrum Orchestrum has been performing on Renaissance Street for 15 years now. La Fête de la musique is big for the band. But it's also a very special moment for Fanny, just in a different way, for when she was a kid.

Fanny is an art and music lover and lives in Lille France. And she still spectrum orchestrums biggest fan and promoter. After she first told us her story in 2020, the pandemic put a pause on their performances. But, Fanny was excited to share some good news about the group and a voicemail. She may sound a bit different from the original interview.

That's right, the band has a new album coming out in 2024, and Fanny can't wait. She said, I'm waiting with a patient. The album is called Noziro, or Horizon, spelled backwards. Check it out if you enjoyed the music you heard in the episode and find out more about the band on its website. Spectrum or cash drum.bandcamp.com. This story was produced by Estelle Jangel, a producer based in Paris, and adapted by Lorena Gallion. We'd love to know what you thought of this episode. You can write us an email at podcast at duelingo.com and call and leave us a voicemail or audio message on whatsapp at plus one 703 9-5-3-9-3-6-9 Don't forget to say your name and away from. If you like this story, please share it. You can find the audio and a transcript of each episode at podcast.dualingo.com. You can also follow us on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite listening apps you never miss an episode. With over 500 million users, Duolingo is the world's leading language learning platform, and the most downloaded education app in the world. Duolingo believes in making education free, fun, and available to everyone. To join, download the app today, or find out more at Duolingo.com. The Duolingo French podcast is produced by Duolingo, and I don't know the media. I'm your host and go fan with a weather at Apple Shenz.