Corfu Old Philharmonic to perform at Oxi Day parade in Nicosia

The Old Philharmonic of Corfu will participate in the annual Oxi Day parade in Nicosia, Cyprus, scheduled for October 28. The band is set to assemble on Heilonos Street and will join the student youth parade, where they are scheduled to perform the Greek national anthem, the 'Hymn to Liberty'.

The Philharmonic Society of Corfu, established on September 12, 1840, holds significant historical importance as it was the ensemble that welcomed King George I in 1864 with the melody of the 'Hymn to Liberty', which subsequently became the official Greek national anthem in 1865. The society was originally formed after the British administration prohibited their own army band from participating in Orthodox religious processions, such as those honoring Saint Spyridon.

Oxi Day commemorates the refusal of Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas to accept an ultimatum from Italian ambassador Emanuele Grazzi on October 28, 1940. Metaxas's rejection, famously summarized as 'Alors, c’est la guerre' ('Then it is war'), marked Greece's formal entry into the Second World War.