What started off as a simple musical party in France has now become an international event celebrating humanity through music. Fíªte de la Musique PH, the music festival’s Philippine edition has been going strong for nearly three decades now. For this year, the festival aims to highlight the need for ocean conservation.
Titled “MerSea” — a play on mer and merci, the French words for “sea” and “thank you” respectively, this year’s festival aims to both express its gratitude for 29 years of Franco-Filipino cultural relations and to contribute to furthering ocean conservation efforts.
“More than just merry-making, we also seek to use our collective voice as Fíªte de la Musique PH as a platform for causes close to our heart,” said Giselle Tomimbang, president of B-Side Productions, co-producer of Fíªte de la Musique.
Flying in all the way from France, the jazz act Rémi Panossian Trio composed of pianist Rémi Panossian, bassist Maxime Delporte, and drummer Frederic Petitprez, will perform on June 21 at the Long Bar at Raffles Makati, preceded by Happy Hour from 5-7 p.m., and on June 22 at the Alliance Franí§aise de Manille.
The Main Stage for Fíªte de la Musique 2023 will be in Greenbelt, Makati on June 23 with performances by Blaster & the Celestial Klownz, Lola Amour, She’s Only Sixteen, Cheats, Ena Mori, and Uncle Bob’s Funky Seven Club.
There will also be performances hosted by different music groups across the country. These destination stages will be in Albay, Baguio, Baler, Cebu, El Nido, Laguna, Pampanga, Palawan, Siargao, Tagaytay and Zambales, with all stages simultaneously performing on June 24.
During the week of the festivities, there will be coastal cleanup and tree-planting activities around the country through a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Philippines and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
There will also be various youth-focused interactive and experiential learning opportunities in close collaboration with the UNDP Youth Programme, DENR advocates, and youth-led civil service organizations.
Fíªte de la Musique Philippines also launched 1,000 NFT art pieces by photographers Chino Neri, Mike Eijansantos, Lancer Salva, Camille Robiou du Pont, Terence Ver Angsioco, Kat Jack, A Decade, Ganden Medved Po, Adam and Archie Geotina. Each piece is priced at P3,000 and can be purchased at scarletbox.io
Part of the proceeds from this NFT collaboration will support the ocean conservation efforts of Lamave (Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines), a Filipino non-government organization dedicated to the conservation of marine megafauna.
