Fête de la Musique PH is Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving

I first heard of Fête de la Musique (also known as Music Day, Make Music Day, or World Music Day) in the early 2000s from a Filipino friend who was obsessed with French culture. It was then that I found out that the Philippines has its version of France’s annual event, where free musical acts are held in outdoor public spaces and parks.

The Evolution of Fête de la Musique in the Philippines

The first Fête de la Musique started in Paris in 1982 and has since become an annual summer celebration in France and around the world. In the Philippines, what started out as a 40-attendee, single-venue gig in Malate in 1994 has evolved into an annual multi-stage, multi-genre, and multi-day celebration organized by the Alliance Française de Manille and the Embassy of France. 

A mix of established and up-and-coming Filipino acts would perform, and as the years went by, they’d fly in international guests as the pocket venues spread out not just in Manila, but in different parts of the country. The best part: Entrance is free for all! 

The Main Stage at Greenbelt 3. The crowd started to gather by 6 p.m.

Waxing Po-Fête-ic 

It wasn’t until 2008 that I attended my first Fête de la Musique in Manila. Since then, I have gone with different sets of friends. In the beginning, I would create a game plan: I listed which genres and spots to visit in order. For example, I’d start with my jazzy-blues friends, drop by the indie scene, see my college friends whose garage rock band had finally made it, try to catch up with my house music friends, and then cap the night with hip-hop and R&B.

Bicol-raised singer/songwriter, Dwta, at Fête de la Musique's Main Stage

Indie-alternative rock band, Autotelic

Of course, nothing ever went according to plan, as we’d end up staying longer in one stage and genre, depending on how much beer we’d bought, if we were too lazy to walk or drive to the next spot, or if we actually liked the new bands we discovered as we went along.

Dressed in what I felt like was my frustrated version of Coachella garb, I remember pretending to know the band I was dragged to watch when, in reality, it was my first time to ever hear of them, and I would proceed to binge-watch their YouTube videos for the next few weeks until the novelty wore off. Sometimes, I’d only realize I knew the band when they played a track I’d already heard before. 

Sometimes, I’d intentionally catch Fête yearly. Some years, I’d skip. Sometimes, I didn’t even realize there was a Fête until I was coincidentally in the venue. Sometimes, it would take a friend’s persuasion to make me drive to an underground venue with limited parking just to see a band whose music I had never heard of. 

French electronic music duo Pfel & Greem from C2C, the biggest French act to ever grace the Fête PH stage

The Big 3-0

To mark the 30th anniversary of Fête PH this year, the acts are spread out to about 70 stages (their largest number yet!) in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. They kicked off with an all-day music festival on June 21 at Greenbelt 3 Park in Makati City, while simultaneously organizing stages in Siargao, Cebu, El Nido, and South Cotabato. More stages are planned throughout June and August, including the wrap-up street party in Paseo De Roxas, Makati, on August 11. 

This writer attended the June 21st Main Stage at Greenbelt 3, which has been one of their better venues in Fêtes past, as it allows guests to find good parking, grab dinner and drinks in the mall’s establishments while the concert is within earshot, and then head back to the mosh pit whenever they felt like it. 

Before 2024, my last Fête was pre-pandemic, and just like Jenna Rink in 13 Going On 30, attending this show felt like a sudden jolt from being the newbie Fête attendee to a seasoned Fête fan. 

Filipino hip-hop group, Morobeats

Just when I thought I was too old to Fête, I was back in the essence of what Fête has been for me all these years—nay, decades! It was a place to catch up with seasoned performers who are Fête frequenters; this year, it was Sinosikat, Autotelic, and Any Name’s Okay. It was a place to discover new acts to follow, in this case, the talented Dwta, whose catchy Bicol lyrics I could understand thanks to my mother’s Bicolana roots. It was a place where I reignited interest in hip-hop, thanks to Morobeats’ performance that made my early ’90s heart flutter. 

And, of course, this elder millennial’s big bonus of the night was the appearance of French electronic music duo Pfel & Greem from C2C, the biggest French act to ever grace the Fête PH stage. They spinned ’90s to early aughts club tracks that took me way back. 

And as this elder millennial mouthed the lyrics to every throwback track that fellow elder millennials Pfel & Greem spun from their set, I realized: There is no torch to be passed. Fête has always and will continue to thrive.