The Polish Border Guard Orchestra and its trembitas that can be heard from over 10 km away

At international events about military bands, it is common to see a somewhat atypical orchestra, both in its attire and its instruments.

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The Orkiestra Reprezentacyjna Straży Granicznej (Representative Orchestra of the Border Guard) is not strictly a military band, although it wears military-style uniforms. The Polish Border Guard is a civilian, albeit highly militarized, institution. Its function is to patrol Poland's land and sea borders.

This orchestra is attached to the Carpathian Division of the Border Guard. This division is named after the "1st Podhale Rifle Regiment," a Polish Army unit active during the Second Republic (1918-1939). The orchestra is based in Nowy Sącz, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, and consists of 43 musicians currently under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Leszek Mieczkowski.

Like the aforementioned Regiment, the Border Guard Orchestra wears a uniform with garments characteristic of the Podhale mountain region, such as its rounded, wide-brimmed hat (known in that Polish region as a "cucha" and adorned with an eagle feather) and a cape with an emblem depicting an edelweiss, the famous high-mountain flower known in Poland as szarotka alpejska.

Besides the uniform, there are other elements typical of Podhale in this orchestra. For example, its conductor doesn't carry a baton, but a ciupaga, a light axe typical of Carpathian shepherds. With it, he gives instructions to the orchestra's musicians, something I haven't seen in any other band.

Most of the instruments in this orchestra are typical of a military band, but its genuinely Polish and mountainous character is evident in the presence of a large wind instrument known as the trembita, also known in Poland as trombita, trąbita, ligawka, or bazuna (depending on the region). It is a Galician instrument, specifically from eastern Galicia, a historical region encompassing parts of southern Poland and western Ukraine. This instrument can measure from 2 to 5 meters in length and is made of spruce or pine wood with birch or wicker rings. It is similar to the alphorn and can be heard from over 10 kilometers away, so in the mountains of southern Poland it was historically used to announce all kinds of events, from deaths to weddings.

In addition to playing music, the band is usually accompanied by two dancers in traditional Podhale folk costumes, who typically perform dances while each holding a ciupaga (a type of flute). You can see a concert given by this orchestra in Krakow a few months ago here. You can hear their trembitas (a type of flute) at 10:57 in the video. The dance with the ciupagas appears at 11:42.

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Images: Orkiestra Reprezentacyjna Straży Granicznej.