Military ending for historical cities festival

The Malta Tourism Authority's first edition of the Valletta Military Tattoo, in St George's Square on Saturday and Sunday at 6.30 p.m., will mark the close of the Malta Historic Cities Festival, an 11-day programme full of pageantry, musical entertainment and folklore.

The tattoo will host two foreign military bands, the Wessex Military Band and the Hellenic Armed Forces Band of Greece. These will be accompanied by the Armed Forces Band directed by band master Ivan John Borg and the Malta Police Band directed by Inspector Anthony Cassar.

The tattoo will also include pageantry and military drills by various re-enactment groups. One of the highlights of the programme will be the Malta Police Precision Drill.

More information about the festival may be obtained from the MTA's events website.

Various parades along Cospicua's main streets by the Wessex Military Band from England and the Storici Sbandieratori delle Contrade di Cori from Italy will be held this evening starting at 7.30.

A musical concert by the Polisens Musikkar Skane, a band from Sweden, and a folk show by the Gruppo Folkloristico La Tarantella from Italy will take place at 8.30 p.m.

The evening will come to an end with a live concert by the Paul Abela Big Band where the most famous songs from the 1930s and 1940s will be performed by singers Julie James, Leontine, Ray Mangion, Roger Tirazona, Mario Spiteri and Georgina.

With the backdrop of Malta's oldest docks at Cospicua, the band will take a journey into the past with a number of 'golden oldies'. The William Dancing Company will also take part.

During the evening, there will be a number of stalls selling Maltese traditional food and drinks.

www.maltafestivals.com