The Escuadrilla de Bandas () also known as the Chilean Air Force Band () is a musical unit of the Chilean Air Force that brings together the military musicians of the Institution and that together with the Halcones, the Blue Berets and the Glider Squadron. They make up the Group of Presentations of the Chilean Air Force.

History

The band service was created on 16 June 1934, in the then "El Bosque" Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group, just four years after the creation of the National Air Force. The management of the squadron was entrusted to Commander Osvaldo Puccio Guzmán. The band was founded with only 16 musicians and its first director was First Sergeant Enrique Pacheco García, who later held the position of Captain of the band service. Apart from aeronautical activities, there was also the task of organizing a concert band, which after prolonged efforts by the end of 1934, based on some musicians from the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group became part of the first "Orfeón de la Fuerza Aerea Nacional". The Orfeón premiered publicly in the kiosk of the

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Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

on 19 January 1935. In July of the 1961, seeing the institution increase the activities of its military bands, it was decided to create bands serving the Air Force NCO School and the Air Force School. These two bands now serve as the service's official ceremonial bands during national events. The Orfeón now took the name of "Concert Band of the Chilean Air Force" in the early 70s. In 1979, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, General Fernando Matthei, ordered the hiring of the musical director of a German police band, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Max Rosin, in order to reorganize and turn this unit into a cultural outreach unit of the highest level in the Armed Forces. The Concert Band changed its name to "Chilean Air Force Symphonic Band" as a result. Today, it serves as the service's official concert band.

Organization and activities

The band seeks to show characteristics of professionalism that its personnel have in other areas, which is not strictly linked to defense. The Band Squadron currently consists of 60 musicians. The

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

was established in 2006. The band has been present at the opening of the Frutillar Musical Weeks since 1982. The band had performed at a

military tattoo A military tattoo is a performance of music or display of armed forces in general. The term comes from the early 17th-century Dutch phrase ''doe den tap toe'' ("turn off the tap"), a signal sounded by drummers or trumpeters to instruct innkeeper ...

organized by the government in honor of the

APEC Chile 2019 APEC Chile 2019 would have been an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) series of meetings in Chile. The meetings were supposed to take place in Santiago and focus on the digital economy, regional connectivity, and women's role in economic gr ...

summit that was later cancelled due to the ongoing protests at the time. On its 86th anniversary in 2020, the United States Air Force Band of the West made a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

video congratulating the band, referring it as a "valuable cultural asset for the Chilean people".

Directors

* Captain Miguel Quinteros (1950 – 1952) * Squadron Commander Tito Lederman Astudillo (1952 – 1953) * Squadron Commander Abelardo Ruiz Diaz (1954 – 1956) * Captain Alberto Neira Ladrón de Guevara (1957 – 1968) * NCO Luis Lobos Valenzuela (2003 – 2004) * Don Fabrizzio de Negri Murillo (Since 2004)

References

{{Reflist Chilean Air Force Military bands Concert bands Air force bands

History

Organization and activities

Directors

See also

References