A Living Tradition

French music isn't a museum piece. As I write this, somewhere in France: - A conservatory student is practicing Bach with centuries-old fingering techniques - A DJ is creating tomorrow's dance floor anthem on a laptop - A grandmother is teaching her granddaughter a song her own grandmother taught her - A rapper is crafting verses that speak to the banlieue experience - A composer is programming algorithms to generate structures no human could imagine

This simultaneity—ancient and hypermodern, local and global, preserved and transformed—defines French musical life. The past isn't rejected but incorporated, creating layers of meaning unavailable to cultures that discard their history.