Exposure - Fête de la Musique

Tomorrow’s music today. This issue: Fête de la Musique

Our friends the French want us to join in their national festival of music, where streets and concert halls across France get taken over for a day of free gigs. L’Institut Français d’Ecosse has hosted its annual mini-fête for over 20 years now, and this year’s round-the-world line-up features al fresco bagpipes and something called ‘l’electroacoustique’. Chloé Guillemant from IFE gives us le lowdown

How did you pick the line-up?

We wanted a mix of Scottish and French performers, and international music. So we’ve got Edinburgh and Glasgow bands, experimental jazz from Germany, Irish folk, Brazilian bossa nova, a girl that does French 60s pop songs by Françoise Hardy . . . It’s a pretty international selection.

Where should we start?

The first two acts are classical. Andreas Borregaard is an accordionist from Denmark who’s played with chamber orchestras all over the world, then Italian Baroque Music, which is a soprano singer accompanied by a lute. After them, there’s bagpipes and African drumming in the gardens over the road from the Institute, or you can go inside and hear more concerts.

Any tips?

Just enjoy it. Maybe get a glass of wine, or something really good to eat and walk about between the different rooms. In a few hours you can listen to rock, pop, folk or indie – and very modern or very traditional music. This day is a really big deal in France, and very popular. It’s always a good way to discover new music from abroad.

Various venues, Edinburgh, Sat 21 Jun. www.ifecosse.org.uk

More: Andreas Borregaard, Baroque Music, Chloé Guillemant, Exposure, Fête de la Musique, Previews (Music)

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