About Malmö Brass Band |
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Apart from the British brass band tradition which anchors in the working class, the brass band movement in Sweden has its roots in the free churches.
The brass bands play an important role in the work of the congregation. Malmö Brass Band is a part of
Malmö Missionsförsamling, with the Stadion Church as its base but also takes an active role in the society's cultural life with approximately fifty performances a year, most of which are outside their own congregation.
In
March 1891 a couple of members in Malmö Kristliga
Ynglingaförening from the Betel Church decided to start a
brass sextet. It was called Fridsbröderna (the peace
brothers).
From the beginning Fridbröderna was an ensemble
consisting of tuba, trombones, horns and cornets.
Around 1920 new musicians arrived on the scene and both the
number of people in the band, as well as the instruments,
increased. They rehearsed on Saturday evenings, which most
likely caused a lot of protests from girlfriends and wives.
Not only that, they also had performances to take care of as
well as teaching students. Then, as now, their work was
economically dependant upon voluntary contributions of the
members and others. In the 40's there was a regression in
the band. Musicians moved from town and there were no
students who could take over. In order to play at all, the
band had to borrow musicians from other congregations. The
ensemble in its original form existed up until the late
40's.
In the 40’s and 50’s a large number of brass bands were
founded within SMF (the Swedish Covenant Church). It was
also around this time that SMM (the Swedish Covenant
Church’s Music Bands) started. Therefore it was quite
natural that the thought of restoring the brass band at last
resulted in a new one - Betelkyrkans Musikkår.
Bertil Hansson, band master in the Salvation Army accepted
the challenge to revive the brass band. For a couple of
decades the brass band format from the Salvation Army had
been spreading to Scandinavia and before long Betelkyrkans
Musikkår became a true brass band.
A couple of years after starting of the brass band in the
Betel Church, a brass band in another church was formed and
took the name of Salem Brass.
With the exception of a short period Bengt Andersson was the
conductor of Salem Brass up until the time when both the
congregations along with their brass bands merged in 1974. A
new era dawned with the name of Malmö Brass Band.
When Bengt Andersson left the MBB in 1978 he handed over the
baton to Arne Nordström. Since autumn 2006 Mats Rydén conducts the brass band.
Concerts, Guest Conductors and Artists
The brass band has given a great number of notable concerts,
has been visited by soloists like Håkan Hardenberger,
Christian Lindberg, Vincent Nilsson, Roger Webster, Krister
St. Hill and Mikael Samuelsson. Among guest conductors one
could mention Eric Ball, Geoffrey Brand, Ray Farr, Edward
Gregson, Tom Brevik, Herbert Møller and Sixten Ehrling. MBB
has performed on radio and TV, and participated in
competitions both in Sweden and abroad.
The Brass sextet 'SKOTTET'
MBB has a sextet called "Skottet". This ensemble is often
booked by companies who want a smaller group focused on
typical Swedish sextet music. The instruments in the sextet
are Eb cornet, Bb cornet, Eb horn, baritone, euphonium and
Eb bass. |
