The ritual services' trade union requests to revive state funeral orchestras. The letter with this request was sent to Moscow mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, on Tuesday, July 14, the newspaper "Izvestia" reported.

Funeral orchestras must be assigned to city cemeteries, the chairman of the ritual services' trade union Anton Avdeev, said. And they would have to select musicians from their local communities to let them play at the nearest cemetery.

In such a way, state funeral orchestras would provide buskers with workplaces, Avdeyev said.

The tradition of funeral bands appeared in Russia during the reign of Peter the First. In the 50s, a brass band was created at the municipal funeral service specifically to accompany funeral processions. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the tradition of inviting brass bands to play at funerals practically has been abandoned.

bbabo.Net