(ANS – Santa Fe) – The Don Bosco Santa Fe Band has celebrated its 70th anniversary. It was 17 October 1943, thanks to support from some young people in the city the band first came together. Its first director was a Mr Blas Maurici.

On 25 October this year band members were welcomed at the Provincial Legislature Hall to give a concert. The Vice-Governor of the Province, Mr Jorge Antonio Henn, handed the General Coordinator of Don Bosco Band, Jorge Raúl Reimondo, a certificate of acknowledgement of the Band on the part of the Province.

The Don Bosco Band belongs to the “Exploradores Argentinos de Don Bosco” (EADB),  founded in Argentina by Frs Giuseppe Vespignani and Lorenzo Massa, both Salesians. The EADB, inspired largely by the scouting movement, immediately stood out for its similarity to the sodalities of the early Salesian oratories and was seen as a way of developing in faith. Today, nearly 100 years since the movement was founded– the centenary will be in 2015 – the Don Bosco Explorers are found throughout the country across 68 battalions, many of them with their own band as part of the their parades and presentations.

Since 2001 the Don Bosco Santa Fe Bandhas been under the aegis of the 40th Battalion at the Veterani Explorer Centre. A year later it adopted the name “Padre Manuel Ostertag, sdb”, in homage to the Salesian who had been its director and promoter for many years. Also worthy of mention is Fr Juan Bautista Roland, who accompanied the explorer Movement and the Santa Fe Band in the 1990s.

Published 30/10/2013