Bands brassed off over Sueca’s fiesta ‘anthem ban’

SUECA (Valencia) town hall allegedly ordered a brass band not to play Spain’s national anthem during a fiestas’ procession.

The Spanish anthem, which does not have words, is the former Royal March which was first documented in 1761 and attributed to Manuel de Espinosa de los Monteros.  

The region’s Music Societies’ Federation  (FSMCV) which represents the many brass bands in the Valencian is not prepared to comply during the current Sueca fiestas or any others.

“Bands function independently,” said an FSMCV spokesman. “Only they decide what to play.”

The organisers of the current and other local fiestas who hire the bands agreed that they did not want to break with the tradition of playing the anthem as religious statues are taken in procession to and from local churches.

The town hall stressed that no-one had banned the Spanish anthem.  “We suggested that the band played a different march and they agreed,” a source said.