The Martigny Town Band is one of the two musical bands in the town. It has sixty active members. Besides its regular musical activities, it takes an active part in the town’s life, especially during official ceremonies. Its representative duties provide opportunities to perform abroad, including several visits to Vaison la Romain, the town twinned with Martigny, and more recently in Innsbruck and Rome.
The Martigny Town Band celebrated its centenary in 2008, but in fact, its founding goes back to … 1860! It was called “Cécilia” and performed as a brass band. In 1908, it took part in a festival in Bône, in Algeria. During the return journey on the ship which transported the band across the Mediterranean, the members of the committee suggested changing the group to a complete band, not just brass instruments. The following autumn, the project was accepted by the members, enthusiastically it seems. The official report at the time claimed: “The meeting on 17th September 1908 is certainly one of the loveliest pages in the history of our musical organisation. It marks an enthusiastic evolution, a generous and ardent progressive advance in musical art.”