(Another installment in a series on Fête de la Musique worldwide)
I’ve never been to Australia, so I was excited to chat with the folks in Brisbane about their city, their music, and Fête de la Musique Brisbane. That is, until I realized that though it’s technically spring in NYC and autumn in Brisbane, they were sitting in a sunny 70°F, quite literally double that of NYC (that it’s warmed up slightly since we talked doesn’t make it much better). I considered ditching my knee-length down coat for a plane ticket, but instead I caught up via email (the time difference makes live chatting tricky) with Luke Harriman, Team Leader of Cultural Programs for the Brisbane City Council, and Cassie Grace, Marketing and Communications Officer for the Council, two of the people behind the Fête de la Musique Brisbane. And it is “Fête de la Musique,” even in English speaking Brisbane – the French was a deliberate choice. “Brisbane has plenty of music festivals so we thought some French might stand out some more,” wrote Luke.
Fête de la Musique Brisbane was launched in 2008, with some 640 musicians performing in 35 locations around the city. In less than four years, the festival has almost doubled. Despite reservations about June 21, 2010 landing on a Monday, last year’s festival featured 922 musicians and 12 schools performing in 60 locations across town. Such growth comes as no surprise for a city with as strong a musical scene as Brisbane, crowned one of Billboard Magazine’s five international music hot spots “spawning exciting new sounds” in 2007.
Although the Brisbane City Council was unfamiliar with Fête de la Musique when L’Alliance Française de Brisbane broached the subject in 2008, the Council was “quickly convinced of its ability to bring music lovers together to celebrate music everywhere. It resonated strongly with [the] Council’s vision to have a vibrant and creative city as well as a community of connected and engaged people” wrote Luke. The festival has been produced by the Council ever since. It’s a good deal. As Luke pointed out, “we know that in many other countries the event is organized by independent groups which has many advantages; however there are also many advantages to the event being run by the Council. For example, it’s a lot easier to use a park when you’re in charge of the park.” Having dealt with the Make Music New York permitting process…I can only say, so true.
As with all things, there are growing pains. Four years into the festival, Luke and Cassie admit that the biggest challenge, still, is getting the process right. Like Make Music New York, this year Fête Brisbane is working with GigMaven to organize online registrations. The Brisbane folks are happy with it, so far: “In previous years, once registrations closed the organizing team had to lock themselves in a room for two weeks so they could listen to everyone’s music, match them with suitable venues, prepare schedules, propose programs and then troubleshoot our way to 21st June. This new registration system will go a long way removing the onerous process of programming the entire event” explained Luke.
I asked Luke and Cassie why they thought people participated in Fête Brisbane. They had a lot to say:
“Fête de la Musique has a wonderful community spirit to it that celebrates people coming together and sharing music. There are no rules about how ‘good’ you have to be or the type of music you like to play. Not everyone who wants to play music wants to be a professional recording artist so this provides a very important platform for everyone to come together on an equal footing and play music. Earlier this year, Brisbane suffered one its most devastating natural disasters on record with massive flooding that lead to the destruction of lots of personal and public property. The effects of the flood will surely be felt for years to come both financially and emotionally. Events like Fête de la Musique play a huge role in bringing people together, showing the resilience of Brisbane people and celebrating the great parts of our city.”
They shared some of the feedback they’ve received from participating musicians:
“I love the concept behind Fête de la Musique. It’s romantic to think that one day a year the world’s cities are filled with the sound of music. Like one giant listening party.”
“When I heard about the event two years ago, I walked around the city for the entire day listening to bands and solo musicians perform. It was fantastic! I thought, ‘I don’t need to listen to my iPod, there’s music all over the place.’ I could just walk from Queen Street to South Bank and into West End, and the whole walk was like traveling through a tapestry of different genres and influences. ”
“I would love to see the city so crammed full of music this year that even bitter businessmen and commuters having a bad day won’t be able to escape a girl playing classical violin outside the station or a ska band making noise in the middle of the walkway”
And Luke had some memorable moments of his own to share:
“There have been many wonderful moments over the last four years. I personally recall an older lady who phoned in to inquire whether she could perform. She nervously explained that she had a small backing track and loved singing but wasn’t sure she was good enough to be part of the program. Needless to say, she was quickly reassured Fête de la Musique was the event for her. If she wanted to sing on that day we were going make sure it was going to happen. And it did.
“At our local children’s hospital, they have a media room that broadcasts to all the television sets in the various wards. We sent an amazing music group in and they spread music through the whole hospital and the kids loved it. The venue has signed up again and again, and looks forward to it every year.
“Another favorite moment of mine was watching 3 teenage boys in one of our city malls. Their voices were all cracking, they could hardly hit a note between them and they still hadn’t discovered rhythm properly, but the look on their faces at being allowed to perform on the mall stage was brilliant. I hope they’re still practicing, playing and getting ready to take the music world by storm.”
It was lovely to catch up with Luke and Cassie and learn a little about how the festival goes down, down under. And it turns out the weather is lovely in Brisbane year round, so Fête de la Musique Brisbane doesn’t suffer much from being a winter celebration. Cassie was quick to point out that “on a winter’s day we can expect clear skies and sunshine, 55°F degrees in the evening – perfect for outdoor concerts.” That plane ticket is looking better and better…
