On June 21, Europe celebrates the European Day of Music, a day dedicated to the promotion of music as a universal language of humanity.
On June 21, coinciding with the summer solstice, Europe celebrates the European Day of Music, a day dedicated to the vindication and promotion of music as a universal language of humanity.
Why do we celebrate the European Day of Music on June 21?
The origin of this celebration dates back to 1976, when the musician and former assistant director of France Musique, Joël Cohen, proposed to celebrate the “Saturnales de la musique” on June 21 and December 21. In the first edition, bands and musicians took to the streets of Toulouse to play during the night of June 21.
A little later, in 1982, a survey conducted in France revealed that 5 million citizens played a musical instrument. Given the importance of music in French society, the then French Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, together with composer Maurice Fleuret (Director of Music and Dance at the Ministry of Culture and formerly of France Musique) and Christian Dupavillon, architect-scenographer and member of the Cabinet, launched the first edition of the Fête de la Musique.
Thus, they invited musicians, both professional and amateur, to play for free in public spaces, with the aim of making music accessible to everyone. This is how the Fiesta de la Música was born, a celebration that has been repeated every June since 1982 to the present day.
Una artista española galardonada en los premios «La Música Mueve Europa»
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Adoption of the European Day of Music
Three years after the first edition of the Festival of Music, in 1985 and coinciding with the celebration of the European Year of Music, the European Union established June 21 as the European Day of Music under the same philosophy: to dedicate a day to promote musical diversity, encouraging musicians from all over Europe to share their work free of charge with the public. At the same time, it seeks to promote and facilitate cultural exchange through music.
In recent years, European Music Day celebrations have multiplied in cities across Europe. A wide variety of activities are already scheduled for 2023 in Spain.
Hymn of Europe: Ode to Joy
It was also in 1985, coinciding with the European Year of Music, that the European Union established its official anthem. The piece was composed by Beethoven in 1823, who wanted to set to music the “Ode to Joy”, written by Friedrich von Schiller in 1785. The melody belongs to the composer’s Ninth Symphony and is intended as a symbol of union between the member states. The anthem is purely instrumental and is not intended to replace national anthems.
Creative Europe 2021-2027
Creative Europe is the flagship program to support the cultural and creative sectors and the only one in the European Union specifically designed for this purpose.
In 2014-2020, the previous Creative Europe program, the initiative “Music Moves Europe: Boosting Music Diversity and Talent in Europe” was launched. It supported more than 60 small-scale music projects and 5 independent studios in the EU. Find out which music projects have been funded by Creative Europe.
For the period 2021-2027, it has a budget of 2.44 billion euros. At the proposal of the Commission, the Parliament and the Council of the European Union introduced a sectoral approach on music in the Creative Europe 2021-2027 program. The aim is to promote diversity, creativity and innovation in the field of music, particularly in the distribution of the musical repertoire in Europe.
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