21st June is World Musique Day or simply Music Day. In the UK it is known as Make Music Day. On Music Day, people are encouraged to play music outside, and free concerts are organised in public spaces and parks. The first celebration was launched in 1982 in France as the Fête de la Musique, by the Minister of Culture Jack Lang and musician Maurice Fleuret. At the time, Maurice Fleuret discovered, in a 1982 study on the cultural habits of the French, that one young person out of two, played a musical instrument, he then had a vision to bring people together to play in the streets. La Fête de la Musique was then born on 21st June 1982 in Paris. This free event made music accessible to all. Old and Young, professionals and amateurs and different genres of music came together to celebrate music heritage.
La Fete de la Music is a celebration that I really remembered and enjoyed as a young person growing in France in the 90s. My friends and I would await with impatience the event programme each year and I have very fond memories of the great time we had enjoying the free concerts in streets and public spaces and see villages and cities come alive and people come together for day and one night for the common love of music. It is certainly a highlight of my teenage years in France and that I certainly missed when I moved to the UK. Make music Day was first launched in the UK in 2012 but it wasn't on the same scale that I witnessed in France.
The free celebration of music is now an international phenomenon and according to Make Music' website, it is now held on the same day in more than 1,000 cities in 120 countries.
I have reached out to two of my favourite human beings in Bristol to tell us what music means to them. They are two queens in their own right and I feel so blessed to call them my friends and my sisters. I am talking about the very beautiful, very stylish and very talented singers and performers Dionne Draper and Sisanda. They spoke to BSWN on Music Day to give us the lowdown of what is the significance of music in their life, how COVID-19 has affected their careers and what they are working on at the moment. Check out the two short videos below:
Music is a channel for narrating personal and group histories. There is an important legacy that people pass on to future generations through important songs or by passing on skills of playing a certain instrument. This develops individual and communities’ musical heritages. Music shapes communities and defines cultures.
Music is indeed a very good example of intangible cultural heritage that we should be preserving for future generations. Bristol, as a city is well known for its rich musical and artistic heritage and well known around the world for the Bristol sound or for artists such as Massive Attack, Tricky, Roni Size, DJ Krust, Smith & Mighty, Black Roots and Yola.
Both Dionne and Sisanda will be releasing some new music in July so do not forget to check out their music. You will not be disappointed! You can find them on the following links:
Dionne Drapper
@_singwithsoul (Twitter)
@soullife05 (IG)
Dionne Draper (FB)
Sisanda
https://m.facebook.com/itsofficiallysisanda/
@songomusicband
https://m.facebook.com/songomusicband/
Dionne and Sisanda thank you very much for stopping by and share your stories with us to add to our Intangible Cultural Heritage archive!