Fête De La Musique, Melville, Johannesburg

by Cathy Gatland in Johannesburg, South Africa

We had a large (for us) group of sketchers turn up for the Fête de la Musique that was held in the streets of Melville on the last Saturday of June. This is a free musical event held by French cultural organisations in cities around the world, open to any professional or amateur musicians who want to perform in it. It’s supposed to be held at the Summer solstice in the North – for us it was a freezing cold and, unusually for our winter, drizzly day. But hundreds turned up to enjoy the closed-to-traffic streets and the music pumping from two stages, as well as from doorways of restaurants and cafés along the way. Regular vendors of this quaint suburb’s streets were invited to participate, as well as new and different food and clothing stalls. Apparently the music and festivities went on well into the night – wish I could have sketched it all, but I’d need to have been a good couple of decades younger!