St. Catherine Band Club

The St. Catherine Band Club is one of the two band clubs in Zurrieq, Malta. It was founded in 1846 and was the first club in Zurrieq of this type. In 1866 a small band was created from an orchestra known as La Filarmonica Del Zurrico. In 1944 the band's master was Espedito Deguara, a well known master in Malta.

The band has played concerts abroad in places such as:
* Villaggio Nato, Sicily, Italy (1954)
* Acireale, Sicily (1955)
* Catania, Sicily (1959)
* Bari, Puglia, Italy (1997)
* Lucca, Tuscany, Italy (2004) In 1986 the band went under the hand of Francis Falzon, who is still the master today. In the same year the St. Catherine Fireworks Factory was inaguarated. In the first week of September, 2005, the band celebrated the 1,700 year anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Catherine V.M., the patron saint of Zurrieq. For this feast a new store and pedestal were inaugurated.

The Feast of St Catherine is celebrated in the first week of September. The festa will go on for a whole week. This feast is considered one of the best in the Maltese Islands especially when it comes to external feast celebrations such as the traditional marches and the decorations which dominate Zurrieq throughout the whole week.The band "Socjeta Muzikali Santa Katarina" is as well very popular both in Malta and overseas especially in Italy. It was invited 5 times in different regions of Italy and clearly leaving an impact. In fact this band club is at present the 3rd largest (feast) band in Malta with more than 80 residential musicians. The pace at which this band is growing is impressive. In 2006 the band had 33 students learning to become band musician known as "allevi".

Feast Program for 2007:

Sunday 26th August- Start of Titular Feast. St.Catherine Band makes a short march to mark the beginning of the feast.

Monday 27th August- St.Mary Band Club of Qrendi makes a march through the streets of the village, which finishes with a "Grand Final" in Republic Square.

Tuesday 28th August- Citizen Band of Sliema makes a march through the streets of the village, which finishes with a "Grand Final" in Republic Square. The "Sezzjoni Zghazagh Palmisti" inaugurate their 15 year service to the society with a mechanized surprise which add's to the village decorations.

Wednesday 29th August- "L-ewwel Jum tat-Tridu" Beland band of Zejtun makes a march through the streets of Zurrieq, finishing with another yet larger "Grand Final" in Republic Square.

Thursday 30th August- "It-Tieni Jum tat-Tridu" St Catherine Band Club of Zurrieq makes a musical concert on the magnificent "plancier", which by far is a unique spectacle. This concert is accompanied by a sycnhronized fireworks display which has become known throughout Malta. The fireworks are made by Saint Catherine Fireworks Factory which falls under the musical society.

Friday 31st August- "L-ahhar Jum tat-Tridu" St Catherine Band Club makes a march through the sreets of Zurrieq accompanied by a statue of St Catherine. This is considered as the largest march of the feast, followed by many enthusiasts. The statue is later put on a pedestall in the village square accompanied by the march, fireworks and the traditional Hymn.

Saturday 1st August- Eve of feast Day. St Catherine Band Club starts a march at 10am which end with the traditional "Te Deum" march at around 3pm in the afternoon in republic square. It's worth nothing that this feast is one of the few in Malta which celebrate the "Te Deum" march on Saturday. Many Feast have it on Sunday. St Catherine Band Club do this to give Sunday a more liturgical apsect.In the evening a notable arial and ground fireworks display is conducted.Bands from other villages are also invited.

Sunday 2nd August- Feast Day. In the morning St Catherine Band Club makes a short march to the Parish Church. In the evening the procession with the magnificent statue of Saint Catherine is done. Fireworks also accompany the procession. At the end a worth wathcing traditional pyrothecnic display is performed by the Fireworks Factory known as "Kaxxa Nfernali Spanjola". Zurrieq is known by many for this long display which can take up to half an hour of constant fireworks lighting the skies.This marks the end of the feast, for that year!

2008 Feast

In 2008 the feast will be on the 7th of September, while it starts on the 31st of August. St Catherine Band will be performing on the 31st of August, 4th, 5th and 6th of September. While on the other days other bands will be invited. For a full schedule of the activities during the feast week please visit the societies website.

External Links

"Socjeta Muzikali Santa Katarina" website: [http://www.stcatherineband.org.mt/]