France Grants Electronic Music Intangible Cultural Heritage Status, cementing the genre’s influence on the nation’s artistic identity. Legendary French artists such as Air, Cassius, Daft Punk, Justice, and the iconic Jean-Michel Jarre are now celebrated as cornerstones of French culture.
Electronic music has been added to the national Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, a formal acknowledgment of the genre’s impact on French creativity and society. “Electronic music has a rightful place in our national intangible heritage,” said French Culture Minister Rachida Dati, following the designation of clubs as “places of artistic expression and celebration.”
Special recognition goes to Jean-Michel Jarre, whose groundbreaking album Oxygène, created in his late 20s entirely on early synthesizers without vocals, became a defining work of electronic music. Released in 1976, Oxygène, along with subsequent albums like Équinoxe and Zoolook, inspired the French Touch movement, a sound that captivated audiences worldwide and continues to influence electronic music today.
Jarre has dedicated decades to advocating for music and culture. As a former president of CISAC, the global confederation of authors’ societies, and a UNESCO Ambassador since 1993, he has championed the recognition of electronic music on the international stage. In 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron awarded Jarre the French Legion of Honour, the nation’s highest distinction, honoring his lifelong contributions to music and culture.
“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,” Jarre wrote in a social media post, celebrating what he called a “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.