Entrance of the music bands and interpretation of the Festivities anthem, «Chimo»

It is the Thursday before the fourth Sunday in August. It is mid-afternoon. The entire Plaza de la Concepción promenade is packed with musicians dressed in their gala uniforms. They are the official bands of each of the twenty-four comparsas. The parade begins. Each band has carefully rehearsed the festive pasodoble that it has chosen for this event and now it is time to show it off. The time has come to show off.

For more than two hours, the musicians and bands parade with pasodobles through the Gomis and Mayans streets of Ontinyent in an exciting traveling concert. The groups of the different Moorish Christian comparsas dress in their best clothes, displaying a frenetic rhythm that culminates in the Plaza Mayor, which gradually fills up during the event.

Competition mixes with unity, since in the Bands' Entrance you can listen to difficult, recent, little-known and even unpublished musical pieces. The level of the The number of scores and performances is becoming more and more noticeable as the event progressed.

The Sociedad de Festeros del Santísimo Cristo de la Agonía, the organizing entity of the event, introduced the contest, with cash prizes for the winners. The official bands of each comparsa are divided into two competition sections to ensure fairness. The competition has music bands that have more than 35 musicians in their formation and others with less than 35 members. Throughout the route, a specialized jury evaluates the musical formations taking into account the difficulty, tuning, sound, interpretation and uniformity. The maximum score that a band can obtain is 200 points.

Once all the musical groups are in the Plaza Mayor, the bands finish their entrance, but the musicians, instead of leaving, are conveniently placed, depending on the instrument they carry, in the upper part of the square, the climb known as the Regall.

All the bands have entered. The square, the streets leading to it, the balconies; everything is full of people. The secretary of the Society introduces us to this year's guest conductor. He is standing on the stage. He raises his arms, baton in hand. The square has fallen silent. More than a thousand musicians are waiting for the baton. He lowers his arms and everything is filled with harmony. It is Chimo, the most international Moorish march. For Ontinyent it is the anthem of the festivities. All together, shoulder to shoulder, we sway to the rhythm of its notes. A mixture of feelings invades you: joy, emotion, jubilation, delight, euphoria... It is impossible to remain impassive.

As every year, in the same main square and to the rhythm of the same Moorish march, Chimo, more than 1,000 musicians playing in unison, under the attentive listening of the crowd gathered to capture the magical moment that moves locals and visitors. This unique event brings together 25 musical groups from all over Valencia in a display of camaraderie and talent. A thunderous explosion of sound stops time in the heart of Ontinyent. Emotions on the surface, memories evoked, goosebumps, there are no words to express it. This is Ontinyent, this is something you must experience.

This is one of the most anticipated, multitudinous and unique events of the Moors and Christians festivals. An explosion of sound that gives you goosebumps year after year.