Alicia Namakau Smith
Fête De La Musique, also known as World Music Day, electrified the streets of Paris on the 21st of June, with music lovers and party goers joining together to experience a weekend to remember. This year, Paris was the stage to both Fête De La Musique and Paris fashion week, which heightened the excitement surrounding the selection of events to attend, people to meet, and ways to be inspired.
The festival is a worldwide celebration, but due to it’s French origins, Paris takes it to a new level, with DJ sets, performances, and pop-ups across the cities' streets all night long. Though June 21st is the calendar marked day of celebration, the weekend was jam packed with an almost overwhelming amount of events to choose from.
On the 20th of June, we attended OVMBR in Paris, hosted by songwriter and vocalist Odeal and his OVMBR Wrld team. The night took place in 211 Avenue Jean, a vibrant venue with a chill and relaxed atmosphere. The line up of engaging DJs (producer and co-founder of Sixtion; Papi Chulo, AAA, Jermz2shoo, Armel Biezman) scored the evening with seamless sounds of Amapiano, Hip-Hop, R&B and more. In a brief chat with Odeal, he teased an upcoming release in July following his 2023 acclaimed album ‘Thoughts I Never Said’ , and recently released Afrobeat charting single ‘ONOME’. Odeal describes his upcoming release as a soundtrack of ‘a great Summer, probably with the love of your life, or, if you’re looking for the love of your life’. OVMBR events are undoubtedly well organised and thought out, with good energy and music staying consistent until the close of 211’s doors at 4am.
On the 21st of June, the sun came out despite the forecasted rain, and streets buzzed on each and every turn. Jazz street performers, folk buskers and more all took to the streets to platform their art and appeal to new audiences. The first block party we stumbled across was located at concept sneaker store Le Cent Un, organised by creative collective Tracs (@tracstracs), with performances from underground French rap artists and sets from upcoming Parisian Djs. We caught a set with rapper and Dj Leah Chihiro (aka DJ NEKO), who fuses elements of French and English trap to create her own bilingual fresh sound, adjacent to mumble rap.
Our next stop was the esteemed Trendy France x All Night Long block party, located by Châtelet metro station, which had crowds moving in unison to the bass of home-grown French sounds, and mainstream international Hip-Hop. Trendy France, along with Trendy Belgium are notorious for being a hub for music lovers to meet and bond over their mutual musical and creative interests. Trendy welcomed notable DJ sets from Kehn9, Danga Music and more, transforming the square of Place Maurice Quentin into a daytime nightclub until its end at midnight.
To close the night we visited the collaborative event organised by Paris-based events company Sixtion , London’s own RecessLand and New York’s Everyday People, making the event a melting pot of different three cities' cultures and an enjoyable, unique experience. Located at Le Point Fort d’Aubervilliers, the free event had a spacious, festival-esque layout, with food trucks, multiple bars and tents of music that had something to appeal to individual ears. Our favourite moment of the night was a performance on the main stage by Brazy (aka Brazy Bih), an artist that defines her music as ‘Afro-sexy’, and brought her fun, colourful dynamic sound to the stage, performing hits such as ‘Attends’, ‘Brazy Skank’ and ‘Omg’. Nigerian singer-songwriter Joeboy, French rap sensation RSKO, Namarijana of Swedish Dj collective LadiesLove, Co-founder of Sixtion Mel Woods and many others also took to the stage in energetic live performances and sets throughout the night.
The atmosphere of Fête De Le Musique offered a unique sense of fun and community, and has left a lasting impression on many attendees, looking forward to what next year's festival will have to offer.