It all started with the pagan ritual marking summer solstice. In 1976, Joel Cohen, an American musician and expert in French and English renaissance music, hit on the idea of staging an all-night musical celebration to mark the moment the Sun reached its zenith in the sky.
He pitched his idea to his employers, French radio station France Musique – and six years later, in Paris, the first Fête de la Musique finally took place. Today, more than three decades on, it has spread so far and wide it’s now known as World Music Day.
On June 21, for as long as local laws will allow, amateur and professional musicians alike will take to the streets to perform, with free concerts held across the globe. From Algeria to Venezuela, anyone who can play music is invited to do so, wherever they most feel the need. Here in Phnom Penh, several nightspots will be hosting their own festivals, most notably Sofitel, Memphis, and the Institut Francais du Cambodge.
Pianist Gabi Faja, of GTS Jazz, has been drafted in to oversee the night at Sofitel. “It’s a mini music festival featuring some of Phnom Penh’s most popular bands, doing everything from bossanova and bluegrass to jazz and old school Swing,” he says. “We have The Phnom Penh Hippies, Grass Snake Union, GTS Jazz Quintet, Sise’ Swing, and The BossaNovas.
“The French connection here is pretty strong historically, and everyone at Sofitel is French, so they gave me carte blanche to do whatever I wanted. It’s not just a celebration of music; it’s a celebration of musicians as well. One guy, Sam, has just arrived in town and he’s an awesome mandolin player. He plays gypsy and jazz, which is really unusual. He’s very talented.
“There’s the Phnom Penh Hippie Orchestra, which is a wonderful conglomeration of Khmer singers; Khmers doing jazz; then you’ve got a German doing gypsy. Grass Snake Union are also playing, and they do some great hardcore bluegrass stuff. There’s going to be a great atmosphere; it’s a happy day for musicians. The best thing is that some of them will stay on stage to play with other bands. There are about 70 musicians coming in and out. It’s going to be a big party.”
The party across town at Memphis Pub promises to be big, too. Cartoon Emo, the first original Khmer rock band, will be strutting their technicolour spiky haired stuff alongside Kheltica. Once upon a time, people playing Celtic music were hairy guys in cable-knit jumpers with fiddles, but Kheltica offer an “entente chordial of musical traditions from France and the British Isles”, says flautist Jean-Claude Dhuez, and there’s nary a cable-knit jumper in sight. Kheltica and Cartoon Emo share the Memphis stage with Maia, Thy Nata, Skip, and Rock X-Press, while the Institut Francais hosts its own open mic.
WHO: Musicians of all hues
WHAT: Fête de la Musique
WHERE: Sofitel, Sothearos Blvd; Memphis Pub, St. 118; Institut Francais, St. 184
WHEN: Check venue
WHY: The party will rage worldwide