Every year on June 21, cities and towns across France celebrate the Fête de la Musique. The popular music festival – held annually on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere – seemed like a wild idea when it was launched 40 years ago by then culture minister Jack Lang.
A record heatwave has come and gone just in time for the Fête de la Musique, which is now an institution in France and has even spread around the world, with more than 100 countries organising their own music festivals to correspond with the solstice over the years.
