VALENCIA MUSIC
They play in the pasacalles, the ofrenda and even at half time at Mestalla.The marching bands that make Fallas what it is! The first time you experience Fallas, amongst the sensory overload of the thunderous fireworks, the colourfully crazy fallas monuments and the crowded streets, one of the things that stays with you is the music of the marching bands which constantly criss-cross all over the city. During Fallas, there are around 360 bands in the city accompanying the falleros of each falla wherever they go. Almost as ubiquitous as the bangers and fire crackers, you are never far away from the blast of the French horn, the call of the clarinet and the boom of the big bass drum. Fallas wouldn’t be Fallas without them. You won't be able to get those pasodobles and other fallas favourites out of your head for weeks. Every morning in Fallas you hear them in the Despertá (in which local falleros kindly wake you up and gently remind you there is a festival taking place by throwing bangers and marching a brass band down
THE MARCHING BANDS OF FALLAS: UNION MUSICAL
your street at 8a.m. in the morning). Later in the day they play a big part in the fun of the parades and “pasacalles” where they let loose a bit and enjoy themselves, jigging about with the falleros and the kids of the falla. They go along with the falleros around the city to collect any prizes the falla has won. if you take the metro, don’t be surprised when you find a full-scale brass band squeezed into the carriage. Perhaps their big moment is when they take part in the ‘Ofrenda’, the offering of flowers to the Virgin. The bands, in a more sobre attitude, dressed in their best uniform and with shoes shined, march up to the cathedral along with the falleros in their full, fancy regalia. The bands are not falleros themselves but are hired for the week by each falla. In many cases a falla will hire the same band every year and form a long standing friendship with the musicians. The bands come from all over the Valencia community and stay in the city for the week of Fallas. There is a great tradition for this type of music in Valencia. Almost every town or village in the
region has its own band or bands, which the local community takes great pride in and music classes are often free or heavily subsidized for anyone wishing to become a member of the town band. Fallas is when they are most evident but they also take part in other festivities all over the region. For the last twenty years bands have played at half-time at Valencia's Mestalla stadium, something unique in the Spanish first division. Until he passed away in 2014, the bands were always led around the stadium by Nicasio Agustina. He was the legendary, elegantly dressed “l’home del puro” (the man with a cigar), a suave nomessing-about sort of man with an easy smile who became part of the matchday experience, telling the bands where to march and where to stop and turn to the crowd to play their pasodobles as he puffed on his Cuban cigar. In 2018, the Mestalla crowd continue to applaud the bands on match day and even “Lo lo lo” along with the (same old) tunes you hear in fallas “Paquito el Chocolatero” and “La manta al coll”.