06.26.08 kulturnatib

Fête

When fellow columnist, Raymund Fernandez, in his column last week, “Infiltrating Music,” writes that “we were told that 'Fête' is a day when France celebrates a day of free music,” they were told not quite the whole thing, particularly where the word 'fête' is concerned.

Still, Fête de la Musique is, indeed, a day of free music in France, throughout the world -- especially the French-speaking parts -- and for the the first and hopefully not the last time in Cebu last Saturday.

I missed that one. Likewise, the one that I had planned to attend and thought I had actually attended when a check in the internet proved otherwise. This is rather curious since if there is any place where the Fête de la Musique is sure to be celebrated in North America, it would be or should be in Quebec.

But, no, the official event was in Ottawa, just across the Ottawa River or Riviere de Outaouais from here. It was held through the auspices of the Alliance Francaise who organizes this event in many parts of the world including the Philippines.

Actually, the event we attended could have very well been an independently organized celebration of the Fête de la Musique. This was held at the oldest house here, in Gatineau, a building restored by the city and operated by the writers' association, hence now called the Maison des Auteurs.

This was a small event held appropriately in a small venue. Appropriately, too, music was the focus of the event, provided by a four-piece band playing mostly socio-political songs and mostly in the style of the ballad, a proper French word with an 'e' at the end since it is a feminine noun.

So, missing that 'fête,' at least the official one, I made sure not to miss the next and bigger 'fête' a few days later.

This 'fête' is also celebrated in the Philippines and throughout the Christian, particularly Roman Catholic, world. This is the Fête de Saint-Jean-Baptiste, or Feast day of Saint John the Baptist, or simply, to us, San Juan, celebrated June 24.

This feast was celebrated for the first time in North America with the arrival of the first French colonists centered in New France which is today's Quebec province of Canada. While it is still often and largely referred to by its religious name which was given further impetus with the imprimatur from the Vatican, by Pope Piux X who officially designated Saint-Jean-Baptiste as the patron saint of Quebec, it has now been overtaken by the more secular and designation, 'Fête Nationale' or 'Fête du Quebec.'

This is translated to National Day of Quebec, which is the official language of the enactment of this designation in 1977. This, of course, gave rise to controversy that in many ways attests to the deep-seated and widespread feelings of Quebec nationalism.

Thus, now this event is accompanied by, among other things, much flag-waving of the blue and white, cross and fleur-de-lis flowers.

This was the overwhelming sight, an undulating sea of Fleurdelisè -- as this flag is called, in Quebec City, the capital of Quebec which is also celebrating the 400th centennial of its founding, held aloft by an estimated 150,000 people celebrating three 'fêtes' at the same time.

The 'fête' we attended was a markedly smaller event. As expected it was bannered by musicians, who I did not expect to be familiar with, except perhaps for their musical genre. But to my pleasant surprise here was music I knew though not the singer, nor the entire song, which is, of course, in French.

The song is, 'Lady Marmalade,' made famous again through a remake featured in the hugely popular, Nicole Kidman starrer musical movie, 'Moulin Rouge,' with the popular line from the chorus sung or quoted in the Philippines in its various mispronunciations: “voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir . . . . ' and sung here by its original creator, 70s Quebec rock icon, Nanette Workman, ironically, an Anglophone.

So, 'fête' has many meanings. In English they are all etymologically related to feast and festival. Yet, the most common usage here of 'fête' is 'bonne fête.' Or, happy birthday.

This one goes to Raymund.