In Minde, a town in the municipality of Alcanena in central Portugal, a jazz orchestra was already playing back in 1952. It was called Os Charales, and anyone who says the name can hear the sound of today’s Xaral in it. In 2008, the town’s music society, the Sociedade Musical Mindense, introduced a new entertainment orchestra, the Xaral's Band. At the end of that same year, Xaral's Dixie was formed in its orbit.
It all started on a whim. A few friends, who had long been making music together in other projects, wanted to try a few Dixie numbers. The feeling was so good that they stayed with it. It was not easy: at the time there were only four or five bands of this style in Portugal, and music in the street has little tradition in the country. For a long time the band had no agent and took care of bookings and promotion itself. Its spokesman, Pedro Félix, chairs the association Improviso Divergente, under whose umbrella the group works.
Eight musicians make up the band. Their Dixieland relies on melodic, almost always cheerful phrasing and on the freedom this style gives its players. The banjo keeps the rhythm, while the horn players bring experience from wind bands and light entertainment music, creating a sound that moves between the jazz stage and street performance. They play at festivals and concerts as well as at parades, weddings and company celebrations.
The band has played major stages. In 2012 it performed at Rock in Rio Lisboa, in 2015 at the Festival Bons Sons in the village of Cem Soldos, and in 2016 at the Festival Maré de Agosto in the Azores. In Durham, England, it appeared at the Brass Festival, and afterwards visitors remembered the band that had come all the way from Portugal and made them forget the drizzle.
Xaral's Dixie has a long-standing connection with Dresden. In 2019, the band marched through the Old Town in the Dixieland Parade; in 2024, it played the warm-up before the big parade. For an ensemble that came up in a country without a Dixieland festival, performances like these are a rewarding affirmation.
The formula remains the same as when it all began in 2008: the eight friends want to enjoy themselves and get others caught up in the fun. In Minde, they succeed just as well as they do on the Elbe.
