Watch: On World Music Day, Fête de la Musique had Paris humming with joy

Music is something that everyone listens to at any given point of the day. Take people travelling to work on a daily basis — chances are that they’re hooked on to a pair of headphones and are singing along.

Naturally, if you see musicians perform soulful music on the busy streets of a city such as Paris , you’re bound to stop and listen.

As people around the world celebrated World Music Day (21 June) in all its glory, Neel Adhikari, a Kolkata-based indie singer-songwriter and part of the band Neel and the Lightbulbs, covered the event live from Paris for Firstpost, and took us on a one-of-a-kind journey through the streets of enchanting Paris.

Paris is well known for its Music Day celebrations , called Fête de la Musique where musicians loiter about in the streets and perform to the public, free of cost. As expected, the streets of Paris were packed with musicians, who performed a wide range of genres taking the city over, the whole of Wednesday.

Fête de la Musique was the brainchild of former French Culture Minister Jack Lang. It came into being in 1982 in Paris — the idea of this day is to not just serve the public with free-flowing music, but to also allow anyone to showcase their talent. The day is now celebrated in more than 120 countries, and as many as 700 cities across the world.

One of the several venues of this day was the lawns of Hotel De Ville where a dome was created to block out all the street noise. The instruments were purposely kept unamplified for people to enjoy jazz in all its joie de vivre.

Different genres of bands performed in the Parisian streets, ranging from African bands and its street beats to live jazz and concerts. India was represented by the Bengali baul singer Paban Das Baul, who Adhikari jammed with, on the green lawns of La Cartoucherie.

Social media wasn’t left behind. #WorldMusicDay was trending throughout Wednesday, as people shared their favorite band posts, pictures, and songs to celebrate the wonder that music is.

With Adhikari’s exhaustive coverage of Fête de la Musique for Firstpost, throughout the day, our viewers got an exclusive peek into the Parisian world of music.