THE NAVAL CENTRAL BAND

  
 A Brief History              The premier band of the Indian Navy, the Naval Central Band was commissioned in 1945 with a strength of 50 musicians. Today, the Naval Central Band has grown to a 125 piece Symphonic Orchestra. Progressing from martial music, successive conductors of the band increased the range of its repertoire to include arrangements of symphonies, overtures, solos, duets, concertos and other forms of contemporary music including Indian Classical and pop music - both Indian and Western. Indian Naval Bands have regaled audiences all over the country and at many places aboard, with their delightful performance. The musicians of the Navy have also performed in ensemble with reputed bands at international and prestigious events and while on goodwill visits abroad, like the Bicentenary Celebrations of the Statue of Liberty, the President's Fleet Review in USA, the Australian Bicentennial, the International Fleet Review in Mumbai and the International Fleet Review at TokyO.

 The Band Today              The year 2003 saw the emergence of a large string section comprising violins, violas, cellos and double basses. Since then, the Central Band has become a full-fledged Symphonic Orchestra for the first time in the history of Military Bands in India. The band has also started improvising on Hindustani and Carnatic Ragas in various forms like Western classical fusion and jazz-fusion, which again is a first in India. The Band now uses a variety of instruments like the mridangam, tabla, carnatic violin, as well as state-of-the-art electronic instruments. The repertoire of the band has thus increased manifold in recent years.

THE EASTERN NAVAL COMMAND BAND             One of the pioneer bands and the second largest of the Indian Navy, the ENC Band was commissioned as the band of INS Circars in the early 50's. This 26 men band has emerged as a 50 piece Symphonic Band today with plans and vision to develop further. This band has been enthralling local audience of its base port, Visakhapatnam and audiences in all major cities of the country as well as at many countries abroad.

Progressing from martial music, this band has widened its repertoire to include overtures, concertos, symphonies, solos and duets and other forms of contemporary music as well as Western and Indian Pop and Indian Classical music.

The musicians of the Navy have had the privilege to be proud ambassadors of our great and diverse country and spread the message of peace and unity by tacking to the blue waters across the raging seas. These musicians have visited and rendered loudly applauded concerts in countries like Russia, Cuba, USA, UK, Japan, Malaysia, Australia and even Shanghai (China) to name a few.