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At 4.45pm in Châtelet, central Paris, a man leans on his third-floor balcony, blasting EDM from his speakers. A standard cardboard logo is attached to its packaging, describing its Instagram account in large letters. On either side of him, his friends were lifting him up from the open windows, and below a crowd began to gather. Introspective, slightly silly and lively, this is synonymous with Fête de la Musique.
Born in 1982 as a free, government-sanctioned way in France to encourage citizens to take up arms and call their neighbors, the Fête has left its roots behind. Word of mouth, TikTok and the growing popularity of French music have made this possible, which no arts ministry could have planned for, and the Black Francophone culture has been very interesting over the weekend. Bouyon, shatta, zouk, French Afrobeats, trap, hip-hop and R&B are sounds that have traveled far and wide, attracting new crowds of Brits, especially Black, to Paris every June.
At a bar selling ice cups to attendees, an American who made the trip after seeing videos on TikTok explains: “I saw a bunch of videos of black people on the street having fun and I was like, where is this? It gives me carnival vibes, Juneteenth vibes. I like being in places where Black people are having fun.” The fête has become, for people from all over the world, a cultural journey.
In live sets in Paris, the main names of Black Francophone music have been established: Miimii KDS, Tiakola, Kalash, Jeune Morty, Rnboi. Brands have also moved – Spotify made its first appearance this year at the Place de la Bastille – the barriers are up, and the infrastructure is becoming increasingly visible due to its popularity. Overcrowded streets, barren streets and on steep slopes, traffic jams, the city is struggling to come to terms with what the Fête has become.
By evening, temperatures push the temperature to 38C, and crowds gather in bikini tops and backpacks, and portable fans. Flags from all foreign countries are draped over the shoulders; exciting encounter with the World Cup on. Water cannons are pumped from the windows into the crowd below, a welcome intervention for residents who find themselves ready for a city-wide party.
Get away from the familiar parts and vibe of Paris like no other. Thirty minutes of walking and you will hear 10 different colors and 10 different crowds. Old Parisians with cigars and beer, nodding to French jazz. Industrial techno is growing outside of streetwear stores. The French trap was also modified at every other angle. A Haitian party in the arena, everyone singing the dancehall songs they know by heart. Filipino street food is home-cooked food. “It feels like home,” says an attendee. “There’s something for everyone here.” Everyone gets their own angle and volume for the night.
From start to finish, Sé Miimii by Miimii KDS reigns as an unofficial folk song, or arguably Mauvais Djo’s Pilé. Bouyon, French Caribbean dance music, reigns alongside French Afrobeats, but piano, afrowing and British hip-hop are not far behind. And diasporan originals like Pop Smoke’s Dior, Vybz Kartel’s Clarks, Giggs’s Talkin’ the Hardest and Khalil Harrison & Tyler ICU’s. Jealousy connects strangers across the street. The French MCs lead the crowd through “olé, olé, olé” while the Brits only take the slang – “Yes”, which means “yes”; “wesh“, meaning “hey” – fast enough to feel like locals by the time they start going home in the morning.
The closest equivalent in Britain is the Notting Hill carnival, although the two are not exactly the same. Carnival was born in the late 1950s to end racial tensions and celebrate Caribbean culture after the Notting Hill race riots and the murder of Kelso Cochrane. It is fixed, fixed, fixed in a certain area and a certain bar. Fête has no such origin. It is spread all over the city with no floats to catch at a fixed time, no single place to gather. “Here, there is no need for one party to stop and start another,” says a British attendee, a lifelong visitor. “The cultural association at the Fête seems to be new.
The criticism, that the British population has lost something, that non-French speakers have taken something that was not theirs, is baseless. French people who grew up with Fête as free and unrestricted will feel the change. Organizers will need to resist more and more brands just coming, spending money on advertising banners and turning this event, just an idea into another corporate festival; profiting from the culture of black people. Small, free parts that will help make the experience one that cannot afford to be immersed.
But in person, for all that Paris is doing slowly because of the weight of the Fête, these conflicts do not play as much as they do online. In an age where music is becoming increasingly popular and affordable, an event that attracts over two million people across the city, almost for free, is less of a problem and more of a godsend. You just have to be willing to walk and dance until your feet hurt.
