Brass Whanganui performed at Majestic Square to give the community a taste of what they will be performing at the up and coming Shanghai Tourism Festival. Photo / Lewis Gardner
Brass Whanganui performed at Majestic Square to give the community a taste of what they will be performing at the up and coming Shanghai Tourism Festival. Photo / Lewis Gardner
It was an ensemble of brass sounds coming from Majestic Square on Sunday afternoon as Brass Whanganui treated locals to a performance before jetting off to China.
It was an abbreviated version of their display march they will be performing at the Shanghai Tourism Festival in two weeks, musical director Bruce Jellyman said.
They gave the audience a taste of a few numbers including Smoke on the Water.
Jellyman said when they are playing in China they will be doing a series of events ranging from stand-up concerts and street parades.
Their main event will be performing at the opening of the Shanghai International Tourism Festival in front of a street audience of 200,000 that is televised to 250 million people across China.
"It is going to be pretty awesome," Jellyman said.
Brass Whanganui was invited to perform at the festival after another band recommended them to the festival organisers.
"We've been on the national scene sticking our head up pretty high, particularly around marching but also our performance standards are extremely good.
"They went onto our Facebook and had a look at what we do and our community involvement and decided we were a good fit."
Despite Majestic Square being a slightly smaller platform for Brass Whanganui to march on compared to their up and coming performance in China, they were giving it a go. Photo / Lewis Gardner
All 30 band members are committed to going on the trip and they needed to raise around $90,000 to go.
"Fundraising is well on track and we have had a lot of support and community buy-in," Jellyman said.
On Saturday evening, the brass band performed at Lucky bar that doubled as a fundraiser and an opportunity to perform for the community said Jellyman.
During their 10 days abroad, they will visit Xi'an to be part of a celebration ceremony that will open a new section of the famous terracotta warriors.
Jellyman, who has had experience in band tours said he is looking forward to the audience in China getting to know the name Whanganui from New Zealand.
"When you've got a TV audience of that scale and they'll all hear it, they're all tech-savvy and they go find out about where Whanganui is and at some point time if they're coming to New Zealand they'll know our band so it drags in some interest and tourism back here."
Brass Whanganui was founded in 2001 with the amalgamation of two of New Zealand's most prestigious brass bands, the Wanganui Garrison Band and Wanganui City Brass.
Several generations of Whanganui families have been part of the band and many players go on to join other brass bands around New Zealand.
