If Berlin techno can make the UNESCO cultural heritage list, so can French touch... "We are the inventors of electro. We have that French touch," the French President said in a recent interview.
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French President Emmanuel Macron has called for French electronic music - also referred to as French touch - to be granted UNESCO cultural heritage status – like Irish harp music, Jamaican reggae and Cuban rumba before it.
The list of intangible cultural heritage allows signatory states of the UNESCO Convention to register “practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities recognise as part of their cultural heritage”.
And if that doesn’t scream Daft Punk, we don’t know what does.
One of the most recent music additions to the list delighted ravers. At the initiative of an association, Germany added Berlin techno to the German list of intangible heritage in 2023 as “a form of electronic dance music that has left its mark on large parts of the city since the mid-to-late 1980s.”
And Macron doesn’t want France to be left behind.
In an interview with French radio station Fréquence Gaie (FG), the president commented on French electronic music's similar cultural status to Berlin techno.
“We’re going to do that too," said Macron.
"I love Germany — you know how pro-European I am. But we don’t have to take lessons from anyone. We are the inventors of electro. We have that French touch."
Bravo.
French touch has enjoyed enormous success on the international scene, helping to establish the genre's credentials.
Mostly defined by its geographical situation, as opposed to adherence to a specific sound, the 90s form of European EDM, spearheaded by the likes of Daft Punk, Étienne de Crécy, Bob Sinclair, AIR, Cassius and many more, spanned various genres – from house, dance, electro, old school disco to jazz and plenty of glorious sampling.
Ever since Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter and his tracks for his Roulé label – some of the earliest examples of French Touch – to more recent offerings by m83, Phoenix and Justice, the Gallic sound’s popularity has waned somewhat since the 90s and early 00s, but still endearingly simmers.
Check out our selection of essential songs from the Gallic music movement.
Through the Ministry of Culture, France has already had a host of cultural practices listed by UNESCO, including the baguette in 2022, as well as the perfumes of Grasse, Guadeloupean gwoka music and Réunionese maloya singing.
Should French Touch be added to the list, we’re really hoping we get lucky and that Daft Punk will come out of retirement to mark the landmark inclusion.
One more time, s'il vous plait.
