Will you be in Paris on 21st June 2008? Get ready for the noisiest, maddest, most popular musical event of the year. It has to be seen to be believed…

The Fête de la Musique was founded in 1982 with the initial idea of letting people play music in the streets for half an hour. Over 25 years later it has become an absolutely huge monster event lasting all day and night, with bands on every corner and in every bar, DJs, sound systems, huge concerts, and every style of music you could possibly think of. It has also been adopted by other countries throughout Europe.

Here are a few selected favourites for the 2008 Paris edition:

– free tango lessons at the Marché St Honoré at 6pm

– DJs in front of the Magic Circus hairdressers, 44 rue des Lombards at 6pm

– Melo’Men a cappella singing latin-influenced songs at the Hôtel d’Albret, 31 rue des Francs Bourgeois from 6 – 8pm. They’ll be at the sweet little Place Dauphine afterwards, from 8.30 – 10pm

– piano and strings at the Place Vendôme with classical pieces on the theme of birds from 6 – 8pm

– Jazz Challengers play classics from Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Charlie Parker at the Café l’Epoque, Passage Véro Dodat from 8pm – midnight

– BIG event at the garden of Palais Royal, where the Ministry of Culture (who are organising the event) a having a bash based on this year’s theme of film music (the first music for film was composed 100 years ago). At 8pm there’s an original creation based on Nino Rota followed by Goran Bregovic and his orchestra à 9.30pm. Classy!

– the Orchestre de Paris will be playing Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony in F minor, opus 36, under the pyramid at the Louvre from 10 – 11.30pm. Could be impressive!

– Minimal techno DJs on the place de la Bourse from 6pm – 2am (!)

– more electro stuff at Le Bistrot de Madame Shawn, 18 rue Caffarelli with 8 different DJs between 6pm and 2am

– traditional Irish musicians at Place Renée Vivien, 176 rue du Temple between 7 and 11pm (oh no, run away!)

– techno house at Oh Fada, 35 rue Ste Croix de la Bretonnerie from 6.30pm onwards

– Didgeridoo and aboriginal music at the Imprévu Café, 9 rue Quincampoix from 7pm to midnight

– big concert of classical music at Notre Dame from 7.30 – 11.30pm

– This one’s an early one: from 10.30 – 11.30am 700 singers get together at the Arènes de Lutèce, rue de Navarre to celebrate 400 years of the Quebec Foundation

– another early one: from 2 – 5pm at the Ecole Sainte Geneviève, 65 rue du Cardinal Lemoine, five or six international string players will be playing together (I love a good violin, don’t you?)

– on the corner of rue des Boulangers and rue Monge from 4pm – 2am is the Humphrey’s Friend Festival with heavy metal, punk rock and death metal. Yeah!

– between 4 and 5pm at the Musée de Cluny, 6 place Paul Painlevé, you can listen to the love songs of the mysterious cavaliers. Intrigued? So are we!

– Italian music at the Italian Cultural Centre, 4 rue des Prêtres Saint Séverin from 6 – 11pm

– Shake ton Booty – MTV on the Place de la Sorbonne from 6 – 10.30pm, with French DJ star Cut Killer mixing between the various groups

– Bamboo dance and traditional Vietnamese music on the Place St Michel from 8pm – midnight

– at 11.30pm at the Cinéma Reflet Médicis, 3 rue Champollion, En la puta, a dance piece that is also part of the Espagnolas en París – Différent ! festival, with Blanca Li, Miguel-Ange, Myriam Mezières, Eric Caravaca on guitar and ‘other surprises’ (???)

– at 4pm the young choir of Radio France will be singing in the Cour d’Honneur of the Senate at the Jardin du Luxembourg, followed by the Ellerhein choir from Estonia at 5pm and the adult Radio France choir at 6pm. Great venue worth taking a look at…

– traditional French chansons from Les Globe-Trotters at the Place Furstenberg from 6 – 8.30pm

– Symphonic Poems at the Musée d’Orsay, 62 rue de LilleLes Invalides, 129 rue de Grenelle, hear some classic opera tunes played by the Symphonic Orchestra of the Republican Guard and sung by French Army choir!

…and the list goes on and on and on!

At any cultural centre, church, courtyard, square, park and bar you’ll be able to hear any type of music from all around the world, from every era, although expect quite a few dodgy rock bands doing tired cover version of Hotel California… And at every night club, the party will be continuing until the next morning!

Although the official programme is only in French, it is arranged by arrondissement and pretty easy to follow. Click here to have a look.

By the way, the official site is here.