Corfu’s Old Philharmonic to Perform Greek Anthem at Oxi Day Parade in Nicosia

Nicosia, Cyprus. The Old Philharmonic of Corfu is due to take part on Wednesday in the 28 Oxi Day parade in the Cypriot capital. The parade programme states that the band will assemble on Heilonos street and then join the historical parade of student youth, where it will play the ‘Hymn to Liberty’.

Origins of the anthem

In June 1864, the Corfu band performed the melody to greet King George I, who was of Danish descent. The young monarch then took up the music, and in 1865 it received official recognition as the Greek national anthem.

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The Old Philharmonic

The Philharmonic Society of Corfu, widely called the “Old Philharmonic”, was established on September 12, 1840. It was set up after the British administration barred the British army band from taking part in Orthodox religious events, in particular the procession carrying the relic of Saint Spyridon, the patron saint of the island.

What Oxi Day commemorates

Oxi Day marks Greece’s refusal of an Italian ultimatum on 28 October 1940. On that day, the Italian ambassador in Athens, Emanuele Grazzi, handed Greek prime minister Ioannis Metaxas a demand that Italian troops be allowed to occupy unspecified strategic points in Greece.

Metaxas is recorded as replying in French: “Alors, c’est la guerre” (‘Then it is war’).

The war that followed

Italian forces crossed into Greece from Albania. Over the following weeks, Greek troops stopped their advance and drove them far back into Albanian territory.

Benito Mussolini was humiliated by the outcome. At the start of the offensive he had said he would be having coffee on the Parthenon by lunchtime. Nazi Germany intervened in April 1941, and Greece was occupied.