Marching bands from around the world in the 2023 Rose Parade for New Year's Day

Happy New Year! For 2023, I'm presenting this year's version of My favorite bands in the 2022 Rose Parade for New Year's Day, courtesy of Luis at Music213. Today's theme is "marching bands from around the world," so I'm embedding videos of the international units at Bandfest starting with Buhos Marching Band - 2023 Pasadena Bandfest.

From Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico The Buhos Marching Band performing their musical selections at the 42nd Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Bandfest on Friday, December 30, 2022.

The announcer mentioned that he enjoyed the Mexican bands at the Rose Parade because they are so colorful. They are that. Notice that the plumes are the colors of the Mexican flag and the band uses them to form a Mexican flag on the field for the finale. I'll return to that theme at the end of the entry. In the meantime, follow over the jump for the rest of the international units.

I'm resuming the entry by sharing the bands from east Asia, beginning with Taipei First Girls HS Marching Band - 2023 Pasadena Bandfest.

From Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China The Taipei First Girls High School Marching Band performing their musical selections at the 42nd Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Bandfest on Friday, December 30, 2022.

Luis didn't have the songs and times up when I viewed this, so picked the low-hanging fruit in my comment.

That's right, "Bohemian Rhapsody" at 14:43. It's preceded by "Hey Jude" at 8:40 and "Imagine" at 12:47. Pass in Review begins at 18:40 and the band plays a Disney medley consisting of "Mickey Mouse Club Theme," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," and "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" at 18:55. Someone else will have to fill in the other selections. In the meantime, hope that helps you, Luis!

Any song identifications from my commenters?

The second east Asian band is All-Gifu Honor Green Band - 2023 Pasadena Bandfest.

From Gifu, Japan The All-Gifu Honor Green Band performing their musical selections at the 42nd Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Bandfest on Friday, December 30, 2022.

I left another song ID in the comments, since Luis had the timestamps up, but no song titles: "Happy New Year! The song the band begins playing at 8:58 for the pass in review is "Dynamite" by BTS. Hope you find that helpful." The one song he did ID was "Baby Shark," although it really started with the theme from "Jaws." I decided that mentioning that wasn't helpful.

Not only did a song from South Korea make an appearance, so did a band from the Land of Morning Calm, The Salvation Army Tournament of Roses Band (Guest Band - South Korea) - 2023 Pasadena Bandfest.

From South Korea, The Salvation Army Tournament of Roses Band (Guest Band) performing their musical selections at the 42nd Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Bandfest on Saturday, December 31, 2022.

The second day's rain didn't dampen their spirits and they played beautifully and energetically. That's probably the peppiest performance I've ever heard from a Salvation Army band and also a huge sound for a small band. Well done!

I'm returning to Latin America with Banda de Música La Primavera / Bandfest 2023 / Pasadena, California from Los Villalobos Channel, who beat Luis of Music213 to uploading a video.


Since there was no video description, I'm sharing the one from the Tournament of Roses official site (PDF).

Banda de Música La Primavera – Santiago, Veraguas, Panamá The Bilingual Educational Center of Santiago de Veraguas in Panamá brings us La Banda de Música la Primavera. It is the flagship musical delegation from the School Educational Center of the country and includes elementary, middle and high school students. Its high level of musicality and cultural reach has been supported by the cultural ambassadors of Panamá, the President of the Republic of Panamá and the Archdiocese of Panamá.

I showed my appreciation in a comment.

Happy New Year! ¡Próspero Año Nuevo! You beat both Music213 and Music Amenities to uploading both this performance and Rockford's. For that, I subscribed to your channel!

The channel also uploaded Banda de Música La Primavera / Panamá " Pass and Review " #bandfest #desfiledelasrosas #roseparade.*


The rain also failed to dampen their spirts, as they put on a lively performace.


The last international unit is the Triuggio Marching Band from Triuggio, Monza and Brianza, Italy. Here's their description from the Tournament of Roses website.

Founded in 2004, the Triuggio Marching Band was one of the first marching bands in Italy. The goal of the group is to continually improve both musically and as people. They believe in the education of their members by staying connected and inviting instructors from Great Britain and the Netherlands. The band is composed of 60 people, teenagers and young adults who are deeply motivated by the spirit of fellowship, friendship and performing together. Their repertoire includes pop songs, rock songs, movie soundtracks and classical pieces.

They appear at 46:45 in 42nd Annual Bandfest presented by Remo - Day 2.

It's late enough already, so I'm not going to wait any longer for anyone to upload an individual video of them.

I return to the U.S.A. with the official band of the Rose Parade, 2023 PCC Tournament of Roses Honor Band & Herald Trumpets (Day 1) - 2023 Pasadena Bandfest.

From Pasadena, CA
The 2023 Pasadena City College Tournament of Roses Honor Band & Herald Trumpets performing their musical selections at the 42nd Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Bandfest on Friday, December 30, 2022.

They also opened both parts of Day 2, performing in their casual "uniforms" in the rain. The crowd chuckled ruefully at the "I can See Clearly Now/Here Comes the Sun" medley, as that was not true at the time. Even without looking at the weather forecast for tomorrow, I'm sure that it will be true then. I learned that growing up.

Seeing this pair of videos reminds me of my experience growing up in southern California that it could be cold, rainy, and windy the week before the Rose Parade, but as soon as New Year's Day dawns, the skies will clear and the sun will shine. It's as if the Southland knows the cameras will be on it and it responds with "it's showtime!" It almost never fails.

Also, I like the "Turning The Corner" theme and how Remo depicted it on the drum heads. The Rose Parade opens by "turning the corner" from Orange Grove Boulevard onto Colorado Boulevard, so I think it's about time the Rose Parade used that for a theme.

I'm closing with Buhos Marching Band - Disneyland December 2022 from Music213. Note that their plumes are also grouped in the colors of the Mexican flag.

The Buhos Marching Band performing their musical selections as they march though Disneyland towards It's a Small World. Perfect fit that they play that tune as they march next to the ride. Bien Hecho, Buhos!

The Buhos Marching Band will be making their second Rose Parade appearance on Monday, January 2, 2023. The last time they participated in the Rose Parade was in 2017.

Yes, it is a small world after all.

Stay tuned for National Science Fiction Day when I plan on revisiting my Saturn Award votes.

*Luis finally uploaded a video of Banda de Música La Primavera before I finished this post. Click on the link to watch it.