La Francia riconosce la musica elettronica come “patrimonio culturale immateriale”

From an English man: thats pretty cool France, just for Daft Punk alone

Electronic music now legally part of French culture Daft Punk must be smiling under those helmets.

Dude in the picture is Jean Michel Jarre, pioneer of electro music since 1976. His first albums are truly amazing and easy listens

Lots of people mentioning Daft Punk here as it is the most famous ones.

However the French touch started way before daft punk, if you’re curious look at Dj Medhi or Air.

It might not be the right time..

Reminds me of [this French classic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gszkB7Ly-k&list=RD2gszkB7Ly-k&start_radio=1).

Electronic music is added to the inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, acknowledgement that the artform is shaping France’s artistic identity.

By [Lars Brandle](https://www.billboard.com/author/lars-brandle/) 

It’s official: [Air](https://www.billboard.com/artist/air/), [Cassius](https://www.billboard.com/artist/cassius/), [Daft Punk](https://www.billboard.com/artist/daft-punk/), [Justice](https://www.billboard.com/artist/justice/) and the great [Jean-Michel Jarre](https://www.billboard.com/artist/jean-michel-jarre/) are pillars of French culture.

Electronic music is added to the national Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, acknowledgement that the artform is shaping France’s artistic identity.

“Electronic music has a rightful place in our national intangible heritage,” says French Culture Minister Rachida Dati, following the ministry’s labelling of clubs as “places of artistic expression and celebration”.

Special mention is given to Jean-Michel Jarre, who, in his late 20s created the masterpiece *Oxygène,* an album of sweeping electronic tunes, all of them made on early synthesizers, without a vocal in the mix.

*Oxygène*, released in 1976, and the albums that came after it, including *Equinoxe* and *Zoolook,* inspired the French Touch sound which spun around the world and continues to shine.

Jarre has put the work in for decades. The former president of CISAC, the global confederation of authors societies, has served as a UNESCO Ambassador since 1993, a role through which he plays point on advocating for electronic music.

In 2021, president Emmanuel Macron presented the composer and artist with the French Legion of Honour, the country’s highest order of merit. On that occasion, Jarre was feted with the insignia of Commander to the Legion of Honour, recognized as the country’s highest honor, both military and civil.

“I’m glad to see that electronic music is finally taking its place within world heritage, especially after more than three decades of commitment as a UNESCO Ambassador and spokesperson for intangible culture,” says Jarre in a social post, marking this “historic milestone for electronic music.”

Over five decades, Jarre, now 77, has presented electronic music at the grandest of stages by performing at UNESCO World Heritage sites including the Pyramids of Giza, the Forbidden City, the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, Masada, Pompeii and, most recently, Samarkand. Just last month, he played at Registan Square in Samarkand during UNESCO’s 43rd General Conference.

France might’ve birthed the electronic music movement almost 100 years ago. It was the French inventor Maurice Martenot who in 1928 unveiled the Ondes Martenot, one of the first electronic instruments and one that is still used today by orchestras.