The Alexandra Field Band’s victory parade had the community in awe on October 24.

The band marched through several streets of Alexandra, showing off the trophies they won after a brilliant showing at the Field Band Foundation National Championships at the DP World Wanderers Stadium earlier this month.

Read more: Alexandra Field Band needs your backing to make the community proud at national championships

Programmes officer Phumzile Twala said the team did incredibly well, bringing home a bronze medal for creative excellence, a silver medal for the Black Like Me Best Overall Music Performance and a bronze medal for Best Winter Guard Visual/Show Design.

They also took joint first place for Best Dance Performance and second place for Best Brass Performance. Just like last year, they came close to securing the main title, finishing second overall.

Twala said the parade was meant for the community to see and celebrate with the band. This year, the band’s head office provided a double-decker bus, making the event even more of a spectacle the community could not miss.

Reflecting on their performance at the championships, Twala said the band was elated because the trophies justified a year of hard work and the week-long camp they used to polish their craft before the championships.

“They got number two, and this is the same position they got last year. This year we were aiming for number one, but we will definitely get there,” she said.

“Number two shows that we are still up there and it shows that we are making a mark. The talent that the children have is just amazing,” she added.

Angela Mpe, a member of the Parents’ Steering Committee, could not hide her pride, saying that parading through the streets of Alexandra with the trophies in hand was something out of this world.

She said the band’s consistently high performance at the annual championships shows the potential of its members, and that the medals and trophies mean they are realising it, one championship at a time.

Also read: Alexandra learners and Norwegian students find harmony in music

The band’s work, she said, is even more important in Alexandra because it takes children off the streets and invests their time in learning to play musical instruments.

Parent Lovedonia Maringa echoed this, noting that children left to their own devices often lose their way.

“You would find most teenagers sitting at the corners, some of them even smoking. But when a child gets here, they forget a lot of things,” she said.

Mpe added that the only thing the children become preoccupied with is music, which has served them well and consistently shown what the Alexandra Field Band has to offer on a national stage.

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