Beating the Retreat ceremony, marking the end of Republic Day celebrations, will be held here on Friday with 35 bands from the three services playing solemn military tunes.
Elaborate security and traffic arrangements have been made for the grand ceremony which will be held in Vijay Chowk Friday evening, officials said.
Vijay Chowk will remain closed for traffic between 4 pm and 9:30 pm on Friday while DTC and Blueline buses which pass through there in their normal routes will be diverted.
A total of 35 bands from Army, Navy and Air Force will perform at the ceremony. Out of these, 20 are military bands while 15 are of pipes and drums.
Navy and Air Force will contribute four bands each, while the rest 27 bands shall be from the Army.
President Pratibha Patil will be the chief guest of the function. Her arrival will be sounded by trumpeters, 38 buglers and 38 echo buglers followed by playing of National Anthem and a tune ‘Sam Bahadur’ composed by L B Gurung, named after 1971 war hero Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.
Army’s 15 Massed Pipes and Drums Bands will play a total of six tunes — ‘Surya’, a quick march tune, ‘Sky Boat Song’, a slow march tune, ‘Pipers Cave’, a quick march tune, ‘The Marques of Huntley’, a strathspey tune, ‘Jock Wilsons’, a reel tune and ‘Highland Laddie’, a quick march tune.
The military bands of Air Force and Navy will follow Massed Pipes and Drums Bands of the Army. They will play five tunes — ‘Ocean’s Splendour’, ‘Bhartiya Nau Sena Sky Hawks’, ‘Swantatra Bharat ake Shaan’, ‘Nocturnal Cry’ and ‘Subroto’
This will be followed by the massed military bands of the Indian Army playing ‘Hanste Lushai’, ‘Gangotri’, ‘Abhinandan’, ‘Dhola re Dhola’ and ‘Giuri Raj Song’
All the massed military bands will then play the ‘Gulmarg’ and ‘Abide with me’. ‘Sare Jahan se Achha’ will be the final rendition.
