Chanos

In 2018, the Chanos Group commemorated its first centenary with the Moors and Christians festival. The centenary was celebrated with various festive and cultural events, which demonstrate the commitment that the Chanos Group continues to have with the festivals and the city of Ontinyent.

The Comparsa was founded in 1918 by a group of festival-goers who were originally members of the Comparsa Llauradors.

The initial costume was Turkish style, a red vest and baggy trousers, a brown shirt and an intertwined turban topped with a feather.

This original design was maintained, with different variations, until 1990. The year in which the Comparsa adopted a new outfit that drastically broke with the original design and where the predominant colours were white, blue and gold.

Last year, 2018, and on the occasion of the Centenary, a modification of the costume was approved but continuing with the colors of the previous one.

The Comparsa participated in the festivities uninterruptedly until 1935. In 1957, former members and a group of enthusiastic young people took part in the festivities again, with Mr. Francisco Reig Cambra as its first troupe.

The Chanos Group opened its social premises, located in Plaça de Baix, in 2010, the year that marked the 150th anniversary of the festivities.

Music has always been linked to the Festival, and for the Comparsa Chanos it has been a fundamental element.

The official bands of the Comparsa have been the Societat Unión Musical de la Cañada, in the first years of its refoundation. Later, the Ateneo Musical de Rafelguaraf, the Agrupación Musical de Montaverner, and currently the Union Artistica Musical de Ontinyent.

The Comparsa has an extensive musical heritage made up of more than a dozen pieces, mostly Moorish marches, dedicated to its members and squads.