The Hungarian Defense Forces Central Military Band (HDF Central Band) (''Magyar Honvédség Központi Zenekar'') is the official military band of the

Hungarian Defence Forces The Hungarian Defence Forces ( hu, Magyar Honvédség) is the national defence force of Hungary. Since 2007, the Hungarian Armed Forces is under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains the political and civil control over ...

, the national army of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. It has represented the

Military of Hungary The Hungarian Defence Forces ( hu, Magyar Honvédség) is the national defence force of Hungary. Since 2007, the Hungarian Armed Forces is under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains the political and civil control over ...

in the realm of ceremonies for over 40 years. The central band also acts as the headquarters, administrative, and instructional unit for all separate garrison bands in the country. One of the smaller bands that are sported by the HDF Central Band is the National Home Defense Ceremonial Band of the 32nd Budapest Guard and Ceremonial Regiment. Although it was officially founded in 1962, its history goes back to 1896, when the first Hungarian military band of music was established in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. At the time of its founding, it was the official band of the

Hungarian People's Army The Hungarian People's Army ( hu, Magyar Néphadsereg) or the HPA was the military of the Hungarian People's Republic and the armed branch of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party from 1951 to 1990. It only saw combat in a foreign country once du ...

. After the fall of communism in 1989, as well as the

fall of the USSR The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

in 1991, the band was reformatted to match military bands of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

countries, two organizations that Hungary would eventually be a member of. The primary task of the HDF Central Band is to take part in national, military, and protocol events. Other activities include cultivation of Hungarian soldiers and wind-music traditions, the promotion and amateur brass bands. The Central Band is a regular participant in international and domestic festivals, and nearly a dozen CDs of performances by the Central Band have been published. It performs pieces such as the ''

Rákóczi March The "Rákóczi March" ( Hungarian: ''Rákóczi-induló''), sometimes known as the "Hungarian March" was one of the unofficial state anthems of Hungary before Ferenc Kölcsey wrote the Himnusz. It was most likely composed by Nikolaus Scholl in 1820. ...

'' and the ''

Klapka Induló The Klapka Induló (''Klapka March''), also known as Föl, föl, vitézek a csatára, (''Rise, Rise Soldiers to the Battle'') is a Hungarian military march written on the 19th century. It is named after General György Klapka who served as the Mi ...

''. The band's uniform is similar to the uniform of the 32nd National Honor Guard Battalion which the premier ceremonial unit of the HDF. , the HDF Central Band maintains a fanfare unit and a corps of drums in its ranks. The current conductor of the HDF Central Band is Colonel Zsolt Csizmadia, who is the director of all military bands in the country. It is a directly reporting unit of the Budapest Garrison Brigade "Vitéz

Sándor Szurmay Vitéz Baron Sándor Szurmay de Uzsok (19 December 1860 – 26 February 1945) was a Hungarian military officer and politician, who served as Minister of Defence for the Hungarian portion of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary between 1917 and 1 ...

Public holidays and observances covered by the band

Gallery

File:A Királyi Palota Hunyadi udvara, Mátyás király kút. Őrségváltás a főőrségi épület előtt a Szent István-napi ünnepségen. Fortepan 23025.jpg, The band in 1938, when it was at the time under the authority of the

Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) The Kingdom of Hungary ( hu, Magyar Királyság), sometimes referred to as the Regency or the Horthy era, existed as a country from 1920 to 1946 under the rule of Regent Miklós Horthy, who nominally represented the Hungarian monarchy. In reali ...

. File:Ötvenhatosok tere (Felvonulási tér), április 4-i katonai díszszemle, 1964 Budapest - Fortepan 104579.jpg, The massed bands of the Hungarian People's Army at a

Liberation Day Liberation Day is a day, often a public holiday, that marks the liberation of a place, similar to an independence day. Liberation marks the date of either a revolution, as in Cuba, the fall of a dictatorship, as in Portugal, or the end of an oc ...

parade in

in 1964, two years after its creation. File:TataMilitaryBands01.jpg, The HDF Central Band at the 2010 Water Music Flower Festival in Tata.

References

External links

*{{official, http://www.kozpontizenekar.hu/index_kpz_eng.htm

– The HDF Central Band at the

Hamina Tattoo The Hamina Tattoo is a biannual military event in Hamina, Finland. It is the official military tattoo of the Finnish Defense Forces. It was established in 1990. The event has usually taken place in July or August. It was established as a result of ...

in 2008. Military bands Military of Hungary Military units and formations established in 1962 Musical groups established in 1962 1962 establishments in Hungary