A UNIQUE
HISTORY...
Since October 2007 : Unik Star
Showband
USA has come closer, since 2005, to
the movement « Indoor Percussion »,
which is very popular in the United
States thanks to the WGI championships.
That is why « Showband USA » has become
UNIK STAR ! Unik Star is our commitment
to the movement « Indoor Percussion
» ; to realize something different,
more in adequacy with the United States
(the origin of the artistic and musical
style that we are aiming to). Unik Star,
it is also the challenge of a new era.
We strive for unity within the annual
theme the show, the technique and modernity.
The group calls on InCoprs, americans
and Pierre Lignée to develop and reach
its objectives. 2008, Unik Star obtains
the title of Champion at the Indoor
Percussion Europe competition (International
Marching Class) with the great score
of 84.9 points and the title of Vice-Champion
at WGI Europe (Percussion Independent
A-Class). Our group focuses on instruction to improve its competencies
with americans instructors (Kevin Shah
and Tony Nunez) and InCorps.
1995
– 2007 : ShowBand USA
“Show
Musical Parade” becomes “Showband USA”
and continues to grow. The musical and
artistic qualities of Showband USA evolve
(the uniforms and the instrumentation
change again in 2000) allowing the group
to perform in great parades in France
and in Europe, such as the carnival
of Sète (F), the parade of Le Havre
(F), the night parade of Velizy (F),
the St Nicolas parade of Metz (F), the
great parade of Auvelais (B) or the
Vancore festival in Joure (NL). Showband
USA enlarges the staff team in 2004
and puts in place new projects : search
for sponsors and partners, evolution
towards European competitions, set up
of a web site… It is with these objectives
that Showband USA develops strong relationships
with Vancore (Jan ter Heide – President
of Vancore Percussion Instruments and
his sales representative Martijn), Vic
Firth (Neil Larrivee – Artistic Director
of Vic Firth and Instructor of the well
known group The Cadets in the United
States), the University of BYU in the
United States (Don Peterson – Former director
of the Cougar Marching Band), Music
Office (Fabien), and many other partners
to come. Thanks to all of these actions,
Showband USA has gained a strong national
popularity since 2005. From 2004,
the music ensemble and the color guards
have taken part of many CGN competitions,
which take place in the Netherlands.
In the “Prize list” page, you will find
the summarization of the excellent scores
of our group. Supported by the town
of Hellemmes, Showband USA becomes Unik
Star in October 2007 in order to take
the next step.
1993 – 1995 : Show
Musical Parade
At
the own initiative of several members
impassioned with music, our group started
in january 1993 with the name « Show
Musical Parade ». Wishing to create
a « Showband », the first members went
to the majorettes of Hellemmes who had
no group of music at the time (
the
majorettes of Hellemmes had existed since 1967). The project
came quickly to life with the help of
the Comité Philanthropique et de la
Ville d'Hellemmes. And that is how «
Show Musical Parade » starts performing
in order to purchase new instruments
and then new uniforms (september 1994).
Within a few months the majorettes of
Hellemmes moved towards the american
drumcorps spirit and turned into color
guards, a new style of dance. Indeed,
they left their batons for the practice
of pom-poms, flags, rifles and sabers.
