In Saxony, Ascension Day has long been Herrentag, a public holiday on which men set out into the countryside with handcarts, provisions and music. Himmelfahrtsband was founded in 1989 out of such a circle of ramblers and musicians. The impetus came from an invitation to play at a celebration in June that year at the inn "Wilder Mann" in Ostrau. The founder was saxophonist Karlheinz Börner, and the name still recalls its origins in the Herrentag group.
For a long time, the group performed as Mochauer Himmelfahrts Dixielandband, named after the place near Döbeln that has belonged to the town since 2016. Since its founding, the septet has played Dixieland and jazz in the style of old New Orleans, and it performs both amplified and unplugged. Characteristic of its sound is a rhythm section in the style of street bands: tuba and banjo lay the foundation, joined by washboard, bass drum and cymbals. Above that, trumpet, trombone and saxophone improvise collectively.
The musicians know the city on the Mississippi from which their music comes at first hand. They travelled to New Orleans in 1996 and 1998 and played there. They could already be heard at the Evangelischer Kirchentag in Munich in 1993, and they celebrated the turn of the millennium with a concert in South Africa. For a band that emerged from a Herrentag outing, that is quite a remarkable reach.
Today, town festivals and spa concerts are part of the regular calendar, for example in the spa park at Villa Nuova in Bad Liebenwerda. At the Döbelner Heimatfest, the band is part of the familiar town scene, and every two years it plays at Ferraculum, the iron road festival in Ybbsitz in Lower Austria. The band has also been known to open town festivals on the Döbelner Obermarkt when the mayor taps the first keg.
The Himmelfahrtsband became well known for its strong stage presence and its humour in words and music. It sings, hosts with Saxon wit, and, if requested, even plays its way right through the audience. At the Dixieland Festival in Dresden, it was often a guest, whether on the paddle steamers „Stadt Wehlen“ and „Kurort Rathen“ or on the big stages. There it becomes clear that a Ascension Day outing can sometimes last several decades.
