Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for A24
This year's Make Music Day kicks off on Friday (June 21) at a gazebo in the town of Fairfield, Connecticut, with the ceremonial beating of handmade rally drums by Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz. Activities on the day include a four-hour, real-time musical relay featuring musicians from 24 countries, starting at 9am ET (3pm France time).
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The entire Make Music Day event will be celebrated in 120 countries, with a total of 5,000 concerts and music events taking place on the day. The celebration aims to bring out the musician talent within all of us, regardless of skill level, through outdoor concerts, jam sessions, lessons and music making of all kinds.
Make Music Day is organized by the National Association of Musical Instrument Dealers (NAMM) Foundation and was conceived by Jack Lang when he was French Minister of Culture.
Dubbed Pulsations, the worldwide online relay will be streamed on the makemusicday.org homepage. The event will feature musicians from different countries performing 10-minute sets of their choosing, ending with the rhythm of Heartbeat. As one set ends, the next set will begin with the heartbeat of a different country, allowing for a seamless transition between musicians. Pulsations will begin in Auckland, New Zealand, and end in Paris.
“Since its inception in France in 1982, Make Music Day has transcended borders to become an international event,” Pulsations organizers Dominique Hervieux (director of the Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad) and Lang (currently president of the Arab World Institute) said in a joint statement. “Make Music Day aims to give a universal dimension to this special day centered around music, widely regarded as the most unifying art form in the world. The Pulsations project reflects our shared values, promoting friendship, peace and mutual respect around the world.”
According to a release announcing the festival, the heartbeat rhythm that connects the music was composed by French-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf. The global online performance will culminate in a livestream from the Institute of the Arab World in Paris, where Ibrahim Maalouf and Michel Ange will perform an hour-long set on trumpet, concluding the four-hour musical relay.
Music relay performers include AR Rahman performing live from the KM Conservatory in India; New Zealand funk-pop band TOI performing their New Zealand chart-topping hit “Ain't Just Dreaming”; Dwight Tribble performing with the Fernando Pullum Youth Arts Centre Jazz Ensemble in Los Angeles; and folk-rock duo Twin Flames performing with Hughes Room Live in Toronto.
In addition to the online portion, the global festival will be broadcast live on large public screens in several participating cities, including Paris, Toronto and Hanover, Germany.