Ah, Paris. Strolling along the banks of the Seine, munching fresh croissants, watching the surging euro turn your dollar into a worthless scrap of paper. Since the floundering economy means we can’t always have Paris, we’ll have to settle for Harvard Square and the Charles, Au Bon Pain and - viola! - the new Make Music Cambridge festival.
Make Music comes from the City of Light, where it’s known as the Fete de la Musique. It’s a free celebration of live music that takes place annually around the summer solstice. On Saturday - the first official day of summer - from 1 to 10 p.m., it will make its New England debut, transforming plazas, patios and alleys around Harvard Square into platforms for hundreds of amateur and professional musicians.
“The core message is let’s put the music on the streets and enjoy together,” said co-organizer Alexis Berthier. “It’s not a staged festival and it’s not in the concert halls. It’s about sharing music with the person around the corner who plays an instrument.”
Berthier and his fellow volunteers first hoped to make the festival a mirror of the Parisian event. They envisioned neighborhoods from Charlestown to Jamaica Plain exploding spontaneously into song with everything from classically trained string quartets and self-taught opera singers to raucous jug bands and jazz trios.
But Francofying the Hub proved harder than they imagined.
“We got in touch with a number of organizations across the city, but the Harvard Square Business Association was the only group that showed lots of enthusiasm,” said Berthier, a French national who works at the Consulate General of France in Boston. “In America, there are all types of strong regulations, and this idea of needing permits for people to play isn’t like in Europe.” The event started in 1982 and quickly spread to the French countryside before crossing borders and oceans. Now more than 100 countries on five continents embrace the solstice music celebration.
Late to the street party, the United States got hip to the idea in New York last year with 500 musicians performing in all five boroughs. Its 2008 introduction to Cambridge marks only its second happening in the States.
As difficult as it was to surmount all the permit paperwork and logistical headaches - paradoxical for an event defined by spontaneity - French jazz singer and current Berklee student Violette is convinced Make Music Cambridge will spark other communities to join in next year.
“The festival has a really good chance of working,” said Violette, who has performed in Paris’ Fetes de la Musique. “Boston is pretty diverse from the symphony to jazz clubs to all the pop-rock. And Cambridge is a very good spot for it with the students and people so involved in arts and culture.”
So no matter if we can’t have Paris. We’ll always have Cambridge, oui?
