World Music Day 2021: History and significance

(WinCalendar)

Music is something that we all love listening to. From having a bad breakup to enjoying some of our best moments in life, music is always there to give us company. As wonderful as music is, there should definitely be a day celebrating its awesomeness. 

Many of you might not be aware but we do have a day already, and it's June 21!

Yes, 21 June every year is celebrated as World Music Day in various countries throughout the world. It is said that it was founded by France cultural minister Jack Lang and a French composer & music journalist Maurice Fleuret who was also a radio producer and festival organizer in Paris during 1982.

Let's have a look back and learn more about its origin and where it all started..

The history behind World Music Day:

The story behind it is very interesting. It all started in France in 1981, when in October, Maurice Fleuret became Director of Music and Dance at the Ministry of Culture at Jack Lang's solicitation. He was greatly influenced by music and the impact it had on his life, so he decided to utilize his position to advance music practices and their evolution.

At the point when he found out, in a report on the cultural habits of the French, that among 5,000,000 individuals, one out of two, plays an instrument. He was very impressed and started dreaming of a way to bring people together. The plan involved bringing people on the streets from all over the city and enjoying music by playing instruments out loud and dancing. 

As It originally occurred in Paris, thus the original name of the music festival is in french and is called “Fête de la Musique”, which is translated in English as “Festival Of Music” or more commonly what we call today- World Music Day.

From that point forward, the celebration has become a global phenomenon, celebrated around the same time in about 700 cities in 120 nations, including China, India, Germany, Ecuador, Mexico, Italy, Japan , Russia, Australia, Peru, Brazil Canada, the United States, the UK, and Greece. 
 

(Constant Traveller)

People on the streets on France, celebrating Music Day

Its Significance:

Fête de la Musique focuses on 2 things to promote music: 

• By supporting young artists and encouraging them to perform on the roads, under the slogan "Faites de la musique" ("Make music"), a homophone of Fête de la musique. 

• By making music accessible to the public for free. Many concerts are arranged for the same. 

Through the decades of celebrating world music day, we are successfully able to fulfill the purpose of giving free music to everybody and to support as well as urge beginners, who have just started taking interest in music to perform and exhibit their work to the world. 

Music has brought the world closer. Remember when Despacito came out in 2019 and we all went crazy! We were grooving on the amazing creation without even knowing the lyrics, weren't we? No one cared if they knew Spanish or not all we knew was how to sing out loud and enjoy the music!

This is what good music does to you.

Music is useful to us in so many ways, as various studies have suggested that it helps lower tension and anxiety, and helps individuals who find difficulty in sleeping. Music is also used as a method to treat people with mental health issues and it has proved to be very beneficial to them in many cases. With the correct sort of music, people can even think and concentrate better. 

While World Music Day is about the open air and public performances, anyway this year because of the Covid pandemic, worldwide lockdowns, and social distancing, the odds of any open get-together appear to be impossible. 

But to your surprise, a few associations and organizations are conducting virtual shows, dance classes, and contests to celebrate World Music Day by sitting at home. Let down all your guards and go enjoy the day with your friends and family.