Fete de la musique

June 21 is known throughout France for its national celebration of music - la Fête de la Musique. In the cities, towns and villages, on this day, you can hear live music in the streets or near town halls.

This year I had the good fortune to be in France at that time and to be able to set aside some hours to experience it like a local with French friends.

To kick off we  decided to have some crêpes at a very good crêperie. Temperatures were in the serious heatwave category so staying hydrated started off with water and then I ordered a kir vin blanc which is cassis in white wine. It's refreshing and more interesting than plain white wine. 

I then ordered a savoury crêpe filled with curried diced vegetables as a base and then extras such as smoked saucisson, smoked choriso and then spinach. A green salad accompied it but beware; when you order a green salad in France all you will get is some lettuce leaves. Otherwise you have to hope you can order a salade compose.

I don't normally order a dessert but, hey, I was in France at a crêperie so I did the basic dessert crêpe with melted chocolate. Not impressive but still nice. Other crêpes were more elaborate.

 

 

 

 

 

  

Then it was time to walk it off. I really couldn't stand the dumph, dumph, dumph from the very loud DJ playing computerised house music. It's plastic and it all sounds the same with no soul to me but of course much younger people would consider that music.

 

 I went in search of real musicians who could interact with the crowd and who had real musical skills honed over years. There was rock, pop and blues. Many of the songs were French so I couldn't understand them and are of a style I enjoy less than British or US rock music. 

 

There was no Taylor Swift music but occasionally a Rolling Stones number might pop up. The crowds enjoyed the live musicians, except for one band that was truly incompetent to the point non- musicians walked away. Restaurants and bars did a lively trade, especially as night came on and the heat dialed down a bit. Generally, the bassists were very competent.

 

It was fun to walk around Chartres, turn a corner and discover a different band. My old feet didn't like too much of that in the 38 degree heat but there's something special about being able to walk around a large town with so much history, old buildings, lively night life with good behaviour. Police were present but everyone seemed well behaved. Unfortunately it wasn't like that all over France for that particular day. However in this city was so nice to be out and about and part of an event.