Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival and Tattoo

The following is an timeline of the festival's history:[5]

• 2007: It took place on Poklonnaya Hill and celebrated the Moscow City Day. The event was seen by more than 50,000 people.[6]
• 2008: The event was referred to as the International Military Music Festival "The Kremlin Zorya". The Foreign and Commonwealth Office banned British Army bagpipers from travelling to event in protest of the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. The move was criticized by Brigadier Melville Jameson of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Vitaly Mironov of the Kremlin Zorya Foundation, with both accusing Foreign Secretary David Miliband of "playing politics" in a cultural event.[7][8]
• 2009: It was the first year that iit had been referred to as Spasskaya Tower.
• 2013: Beginning this year, the festival's motto has been "Reviving traditions, retaining history"
• 2014: 1,500 military musicians and honor guards from 10 countries took part in the festival. The theme of the festival marked the First World War centenary.[3]
• 2015: The festival celebrated the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.[9]
• 2016: Attended by over a 1,000 musicians.[10] Participating teams included those from Austria, Greece, the European Union, Italy, Mongolia, Singapore, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Israel, Belarus, and Scotland.[10][11] The tattoo began with a minute of silence for the 291 victims of the August 2016 Central Italy earthquake.[12]
• 2017: The tattoo celebrated the 10th anniversary of the founding of the festival.[13][14] It also honoured Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov, the musical director of the festival who died along with the entire Alexandrov Ensemble in the 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash. Over a thousand musicians from 40 young bands of the Central Federal District took part in the festival as part of a larger Children's Combined Band. Distinguished guests of honor included Belarusian Defence Minister Andrey Ravkov and his spouse, Chief Conductor in the Abkhazian Defence Ministry David Terzyan and Director of Bands for the Egyptian Armed Forces Major General Helmi Ahmed Suliman Khatab.[15]
• 2018: The tattoo was attended by HRH Princess Stephanie of Monaco. The 2018 festival marked the 10th time that French singer Mireille Mathieu (who is also the festival's mascot) has appeared in the festival.[16] It also marked the first time that military bands from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) did not participate in the festival[17][18] It concluded with an awards ceremony which honored the best Russian military band and the best foreign military band based on the results of the recently introduced voting system.
• 2019:[19] Tamara Gverdtsiteli, Hibla Gerzmava, Anita Tsoi[20] are among the vocal performers in the festival.[21]

The Military Band of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Mongolia in its traditional uniform on the VDNKh.

"Bands in the Parks" is a program sponsored bt Directorate of the Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival and is carried out from May to August in support of the Ministry of Defense of Russia and the Government of Moscow.[22] The first of these performances took place at VDNKh in 2016 and was greeted with a standing ovation by Muscovites and guests of the capital. In the anniversary year a year later, the program of performances was expanded. The number of concerts and city venues involved in the project has increased.[23]

Presidential Band of the Russian Federation

The Abu Dhabi Police Band

Normally, each festival included a maximum of 12 countries, apart from Russia.[24]

Foreign

Country	Name	Country	Name	Country	Name
Armenia	Band of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia (2017) Yerevan Drums (2014, 2017)	Azerbaijan	Band of the Azerbaijan Higher Military Academy (2019)[25] Song and Dance Ensemble of the Army Ideological and Hazi Aslanov Cultural Center (2019)[26]	Bahrain	Bahrain Police Band (2010)
Belarus	Central Band of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus (2013, 2016, 2017, 2019[27]) Honor Guard of the Armed Forces of Belarus (2013, 2016, 2017, 2019)	China	Central Military Band of the People's Liberation Army of China (2015, 2019)	Denmark	Royal Life Guards Music Band
Egypt	Egyptian Armed Forces Symphonic Band (2017)	Finland	The Conscript Band of the Finnish Defence Forces (2013)	France	French Army Signals Band (2010) French Foreign Legion Music Band (MLE) (2011) Musique de l'Arme Blindée Cavalerie (2012) Fanfare de l'Ecole d'Application de l'Artillerie (2012)[28] Fanfare du 2e Régiment de Hussards (2012)
Germany	Staff Band of the Bundeswehr	Greece	Hellenic Air Force Band (2011, 2012)[29] Hellenic Air Force Technical NCO Academy Drill Team (2011, 2012)	India	Indian Army Chief's Band (2009) Tri-Services Band (2017)
Israel	Israel Police Orchestra (2010)[30] Israel Defense Forces Orchestra (2016)[31]	Italy	Banda musicale dell'Arma dei Carabinieri (2012, 2017) Banda della Polizia Locale di Roma Capitale(2015) Band of the 11th Bersaglieri Regiment (2018) Alpine Brigade Tridentina Band (2019)[32][33]	Japan	Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Central Band (2019)[34][35]
Kazakhstan	Presidential Band of the State Security Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2007, 2009–10, 2012) Aibyn Presidential Regiment (2007, 2009–10, 2012) Honour Guard and Band of the National Guard of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2019)	Korea	Hannuri Yeonhui Traditional Performing Arts Company (2019) Central Military Band of the Korean People's Army (2019)	Mexico	Representative Music Band of the Mexican Armed Forces (2015)
Monaco	Prince’s Band of Carabiniers (2018)[36]	Mongolia	Military Band of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Mongolia (2015)	Netherlands	Rotterdam Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy (2013) Bicycle Showband Crescendo (2018)
Norway	Tveit Union (2019)[37]	Oman	Omani Royal Guard Military Band (2018)	Pakistan	Pakistan Armed Forces Band (2011, 2015)[38]
Poland	Representative Central Band of the Polish Armed Forces (2012)	Serbia	Nish Band of the Serbian Armed Forces (2014)	Singapore	Singapore Armed Forces Band (2012)
Slovenia	Slovene Military Orchestra (2013)[39] KUD Pošta Maribor Brass Band (2015)	Sri Lanka	Sri Lankan Military Band (2018)[40]	Switzerland	Top Secret Drum Corps (2011, 2017)[41] Vieux-Grenadiers Compamy (2014, 2018)
Tajikistan	Military Brass Band of the Commandant Regiment of the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan (2010)	Turkey	Harmonic Band of the Turkish Armed Forces (2019)	UAE	Abu Dhabi Police Band (2013)
UK	Royal Artillery Band (2011) 19th Regiment Royal Artillery Pipes and Drums (2011) Brentwood Imperial Youth Band (2018)[42]	US	United States Army Europe Band and Chorus (2010)	Uzbekistan	Band of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Uzbekistan (2017)[43][44]

Other participants have included Central Military Band of the Myanmar Armed Forces, the Republican Specialized Academic Lyceum of Music of the Uzbekistan National Guard[45] and the National Presidential Band of Ukraine.

Sergey Khlebnikov and Svetlana Medvedeva at the 2011 festival.

• Svetlana Medvedeva, 3rd First Lady of Russia[46]
• Army General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff
• General Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Minister of Internal Affairs
• Belarusian Defence Minister Andrei Ravkov and his wife Natalia
• Princess Stéphanie of Monaco[47]
• Senior Lieutenant Mohammad Al Heidus, Qatari Police Music Department
• Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Wahab Khan, Pakistan Army School of Music[48]
• Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, King of Bahrain[49]
• David Terzyan, Director of Music of the Abkhazian Defence Ministry
• Lieutenant General Christos Vaitsis, Chief of the Hellenic Air Force General Staff[50]

The President of Russia in his/her position as Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces usually delivers a message of congratulations to the organizers and participants of the festival.[51] Greetings are also given by the Russian Defence Minister and the Mayor of Moscow. The day before the festival's opening ceremony, the directors of the participating bands lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden.[52] The festival usually coincides with Moscow's City Day, which means that some of the participating bands take part in the procession along Tverskaya Street.[53] It also takes part in an opening parade at the VDNKh. At the end of the festival, the combined bands will perform Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, after which they will march off while playing Farewell of Slavianka and all the band directors conduct all the participants as they pass by.

Award winners

The band conductor of the Central Military Band of the People's Liberation Army of China, Senior Colonel Liu Xinbo, receiving an award from Timofey Mayakin at the 2019 tattoo.

Year	Russian	Foreign
2018	Band of the Moscow Military Music College	Bicycle Showband Crescendo
2019	Central Military Band of the Ministry of Defense of Russia	Central Military Band of the People's Liberation Army of China

The public council is the organizing committee of the festival. Among its duties are the handing of invitations to the festival to foreign music bands, cultural groups and drill teams. The council is headed by the Senior Director of Music of the Band Service. Notable members of the council have included Lieutenant General Sergey Khlebnikov (the former Head of the Commandant's Office of the Moscow Kremlin) and Colonel Sergey Durygin (director of the Red Army Band)

• 
  Spasskaya Tower
• 
  The Grand Finale of the tattoo in 2010
• 
  The United States Army Europe Band and Chorus
• 
  Band of the Republican Guard of Kazakhstan
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  Yerevan Drums
• 
  The Aibyn Presidential Regiment
• 
  A sabre drill team from the Kremlin Regiment
• 
  The French Foreign Legion Music Band

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spasskaya Bashnya (festival).

• Official Website (in Russian)
• Official Website (in English)
• Official Youtube Channel

• 9th Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival
• 10th Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival
• 12th Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival
• Russia: Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival rehearsals take place on Red Square
• Военные оркестры в парках 2019 (Парк Фили)
• Russia: Final rehearsals for 11th Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival get underway
• Band of the Azerbaijan Higher Military School