This Sunday, August 28, music ensembles from Armenia, Belarus, Venezuela, Egypt, India, and Thailand performed for the Muscovites and guests of the capital, with the city’s railway stations and parks as the improvised venues. The event was carried out within the Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival, which this year was celebrating its fifteenth anniversary.
The Exemplary Band of the Belarus Armed Forces staged the concert at the Belorussky railway station. For the Spasskaya Tower Festival, the musicians brought the Honor Guard Unit with them. Every night on the cobblestones of Red Square, the members of the unit show off their amazing arm-drilling skills, dazzling the stands. Meanwhile, the band’s repertoire includes over 500 musical pieces, featuring both classical and contemporary compositions. The military band from Belarus is extremely popular among its admirers, particularly due to its exquisite open-air drill ground or platz concerts with solo, ensemble, and orchestra performances.
The Kazansky railway station became the stage for the Military Band of the Armenian Armed Forces General Staff. Over its 30 years of history, the Band of the Armenian AF General Staff has taken part in over 2000 events, including state official ceremonies, country-wide concerts, upscale sports events, and international festivals. The musicians enjoy close creative cooperation with musical and creative groups, as well as young authors and performers all around Armenia.
The unique spirit of Armenia was recreated with the help of the traditional duduk flute, regarded to be the voice of the Armenian soul, its wisdom and sadness, love and joy. As Colonel Hayk Grigoryan, the head of the Military Band Service of the Armenian Armed Forces General Staff-Chief Military Conductor, noted, “The duduk is simplest and most purebred Armenian instrument, namely Armenian, I am not afraid of this word. A non-Armenian cannot play the duduk the way an Armenian plays it, because for others it does not sound the way it sounds for Armenians”.
The Panghat Performing Arts Group showcased their national music and traditional outfits at the Paveletskaya railway station. They performed folk and ritual dances typical of the state of Gujarat. The performance turned to be a true showstopper.
Meanwhile, the visitors of Gorky Park witnessed the performance of the Military Symphonic Band from Egypt. The musicians treated the audiences to the world's most famous classical music pieces. The Egyptian Military Symphonic Band accompanies state official events and national celebrations. Its achievement record includes participation in such grand events as the transportation of the mummies of the pharaohs to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in El Fustat and the opening of the ancient alley of sphinxes in Luxor.
The Bunwattana School Marching Band, participants of the Spasskaya Tower from Thailand, presented their show at VDNH, performing the program, titled Happiness Has Come.
The musicians from the Boonwattana School Marching Band managed to win the 2021 Thailand International Marching Competitions, receiving the Royal Trophy given by His Majesty the King of Thailand. This win made possible their participation at the Spasskaya Tower Festival. According to the band's conductor Krittanan Saksiri, one of the songs that the musicians included in the program was written by the previous king of Thailand, Rama IX.
The Great Military Band of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces marched along the main lane of the Sokolniki Park. Colorful outfits, vibrant dances and the invariably cheerful mood of the musicians resonated in the souls of the Russians. The Venezuelan military musicians’ goal is to embody cultural values supported by the national armed forces. They aim at promoting Venezuelan military, traditional, and folklore music as well as showcasing all the variety of music's distinctive genres and rhythms at an international level. The Great Military Band is keeping the country’s cultural and historical heritage alive, preserving the peculiar features of the national military music and inviting everyone to take a deeper look into the history and reality of the Armed Forces of Venezuela.
The Festival is carried out following the Order of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, under the aegis of the Public Council headed by Mr. Alexander Zhukov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, with the support of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Moscow Department of Culture.
Photo: Anastasia Glybina, Maria Moskvitsova, Georgiy Basalaev, Grigoriy Seregin, Nikolay Tretyak
