February 7, 2002

'33'

NAVAL SYMPHONIC BAND CONCERT

    Naval Symphonic Band Concert performed by the Indian Naval Central Band and Musicians drawn from INS India will be held at Siri Fort Auditorium on 09 Feb 2002.

    The Naval Symphonic Band, one of the pioneer bands of the Indian Navy, was commissioned in 1945 at Mumbai, with a strength of 50 musicians under the aegis of Lt Cdr SE Hills MBE, RCMN, RNVR. This band was located at INS Angre Mumbai then known as Castle Barracks.

    The musicians of this band were mainly personnel who belonged to the bands of the various princely states. Lt Cdr Hills himself was attached to the band of the Maharaja of Rampur. The popularity of this band grew from strength to strength with some very fine performances in and around Mumbai. Along with performances for all service and ceremonial functions, this band also widened its repertoire by performing at functioning involving the various civilian choirs and
orchestras. The brass and percussion sections formed the battery of the Mumbai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Delhi Symphonic Society and other renowned orchestras
in India.

    Today the band has grown into a full-fledged concert band of 100 musicians. All training establishments of the Navy also have bands. Although the instruments used by the band are the same as military bands all over the world and are of foreign origin, the Naval bands have adopted an indianisation programme by composing and arranging Indian marches and Indian raags for their performances. These bands also use Indian instruments like the Tabla, Mridingam, Tanpura
and the Bamboo flute or the Bansuri. The influence of our own Indian culture is very much prevalent in our musicians and their renderings.

    The Naval Bands act as Ambassadors of the country when they perform at foreign countries during goodwill visits of ships or otherwise. The band will be performing from a wide repertoire of music ranging from western classical, popular, Indian and other forms of music by noted arrangers and composers.