FEATURING VALENCIA, A THREE-PART SERIES: (I) The Banda de Musica is Definitive of the (Unofficial) Music Capital of Spain
Musicians depicted in a ninot at the Fallas de Valencia, the world-famous festival of satirical art
in the form of gigantic ninots and music provided by the bandas de musica.
THE BANDA DE MUSICA DE VALENCIA
by Rose Maramba
You can’t beat the Valencians when it comes to music. Especially the type you’d listen to, equally in a fastuous palau de la musica as in a tumbledown hall in a remote village. The Valencian variety of music made by the bandas de musica (music bands).
Having 533 bandas de musica to its name, coterminous with sociedades musicales, the Comunidad Valenciana tops the list of Spain’s seventeen autonomous communities as ranked by the Ministry of Culture and Sport according to the number of bandas in each of the autonomous communities (data from 2021).
Some 800 bada musicians gather outside the Palau de la Musica of Valencia after the “Bandas 800 anys/800 music ” parade
No doubt, Spain is an exceptionally musical country, boasting more than 1,500 bandas the musica. And Valencia owns a breathtaking third (530+ bandas) of the total number. Andalusia, the second autonomous community in the number of bandas de musica (less than 250 bandas), and the first in population (8.6 million in 2024), can’t rack up even half the number of the bandas Valencia has. The Canary Islands ranks fifth (64 bandas), and Navarre is tenth (40 bandas).
Madrid, the third most populous autonomous community (population: 7,058,041 in 2024), is unable to make the top ten list, having less than 40 bandas de musica. (Valencia, in comparison, is fourth in population: 5,359,309 in 2024).
There is a slight, and therefore acceptable, data discrepancy from the different information sources. According to the Federación de Sociedades Musicales de la Comunidad de Valencia there are 550 sociedades musicales registered with that federation; more than 1,000, and even close to 2000 by other reckonings, if you counted in those who chose to operate independently of the FSMCV.
In Valencia, Land of Bandas de Musica, there are more sociedades musicales (the FSMCV’s 550 bandas) than the municipalities comprising the Valencian territory (542). This is one of the reasons why Valencia, where music is definitive of that autonomous community’s essence, is said to be one of the biggest artistic contributors to the world.
The Banda Primitiva de Lliria plays at the Palau de la Musica de Valencia.
As it happens, there are more than one bandas in such Valencian cities as Buñol, Cullera, and Llíria, the cradle of the oldest civil bands in Spain, the Banda Primitiva de Llíria. So much so that on occasion, these places erupt into fierce rivalry.
The banda de musica of Valencia has a unique connection with both the urban dwellers and villagers that the symphony orchestra can’t hope to aspire for. This unique relationship could be traced back to the custom of musically-inclined farmers and artisans who, when the chores of their livelihood are done at the end of the day, would rehearse with their musical group and even mount concerts, the townfolk their audience.
Bringing music and culture to school children across Valencia: Musician Pablo Nahual uses concerts to teach the children the origins of musical instruments.
Aspiring musicians had – and they still definitely have – the benefit of training in special schools, a kind of “conservatorio elemental” to begin with, a major instrument that propels musical aspirations and bring culture to urban and rural areas. Many a great Valencian musician, instrumentalist or vocalist, was inducted into the music world via these grassroots schools.
There are more than 40,000 people who participate in bandas de musica in Valencia. And not just within the confines of this autonomous community either. As of today, two out of three percussionists and wind players in the Orquestra Nacional de España, a symphony orchestra under auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Sport, are Valencians. Which shows the crucial role the Valencian musicians play on the national music scene, not to say international with their two prestigious international music contests: the annual Certamen Internacional de Bandas “Ciutat de València”, and the biennial Certamen Internacional de Bandes de Música Vila d’Altea whose contest, held on the 7th of December this year, created a special “Fila Cero” (Line Zero) to collect donations for the sociedades musicales in Horta Sud, the comarca hard hit by DANA (Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos or isolated depression at high levels). The DANA that hit Valencia and some limited areas in Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia has been the most severe DANA recorded in the 21st century.
A beautiful bandstand in pre-DANA Benetússer, a mucinipality of l’Horta Sud
In fact, the sociedades musicales have been declared Bien de Interés Cultural Immaterial (Intangible Asset of Cultural Interest) per Spain’s Royal Decree 68/2018 of 25 May, and Manifestación Representativa del Patrimonio Cultural Immaterial (Representative Manifestation of Intangible Cultural Heritage) via the Royal Decree 229/2021 of 30 March.
The Valencian banda de musica started out as a military band during the reign of Jose I Bonaparte.
The trajectory of the Valencian bandas de musica ,as it morphed from the military band that it was during the reign of José I Bonaparte to its present form, is apparently seamless, with no great catastrophes to arrest its growing polish and popularity in an irreparable way. But Mother Nature has a way of making her presence felt, as it were, when things get too complacent; Valencia has suffered a hundred or so significant floods from the 14th century caused by the high-impact rainfall called cold drop or what the Spaniards refer to as gota fría. Thus, on 12 – 14 October 1957 the Turia River, which bisected the City of Valencia, the homonymous capital of Valencian autonomous community, on its course west to east, overflowed its banks, causing lethal flooding.
The City of Valencia during the Riada of Ooctober 1957.
The gota fría in that autumn of 1957, known commonly as Riada de Valencia, wreaked damage on property to the tune of 10 – 16 billion pesetas (Ptas 166.386 = €1.00). The death toll was at least 81 persons. The people of Valencia mobilized, the local government declared a state of emergency and acted accordingly, while volunteers did their humanitairan work. Generalissimo Francisco Franco, the dictator, visited the scene of the catastrophe and promised to assume the cost of reconstruction and the come to the aid of the survivors of the flash flood. However, after months of inaction, Tomás Trénor Azcárraga, appointed Mayor Valencia, confronted the Franco regime; he was summarily dismissed from the City Hall in 1958. Luckily for the capital city, the mayor’s complaints while in office finally expidited help, ultimately resulting in the construction of the monumental hydraulic works, the Plan Sur, which diverted the course of the Turia from the city to the Meditarrenean.
Some say the Riada changed the course of life in Valencia forever. Did it really? Valencians are a resilient people. The musicians are no exception. But there certainly were lessons to learn. . .
Fast forward to 29 October 2024. Go to “PART II: The Most Musical Town in Spain Losses Billions to the Deadly DANA.”
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Images from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons unless stated otherwise
> Featured image/User: Coentor, CC BY-SA1
> 800 banda de musica musicians/Gabriel Sánchez, PD
> Banda Primitiva/Joselet, CC BY-SA4.0
> Pablo Nahual concert/Ana Orero, CC BY-SA4.0
> Benetússer bandstand/Zarateman, CCO
> GUIDEPOST Collage. Jose I Bonaparte/Jose Flaugier. Source/Photographer: Google Art Project, Google Art Institute. Pixabay, PD. Marching band/Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Pixabay, edited.
>Riada Valencia/photographer unknown. Photo scanned by Talayuelo, CCO
