Great Municipal Band

The Great Municipal Band was a Gungan band that performed at all major events significant to the Gungans, who were a swamp-dwelling species on the planet Naboo. It was a source of extreme pride for the Gungan people as only the finest musikagungs were members. The band was a significant part of Gungan culture, as it composed symponiks to record and retell Gungan history. The Great Municipal Band was directed by a leader, and in 32 BBY that leader was Augara Jowil, who succeeded Beezar Pert, composer of the "Symponika Crunchen-Grand." Under Jowil's direction, the Municipal Band performed the "Symponik Nabooalla" following the Invasion of Naboo by the galactic megacorporation known as the Trade Federation.

HistoryEdit

The Great Municipal Band was a musical band composed of the finest musikagungs, the musicians of the swamp-dwelling Gungan species, on the planet Naboo.^[1] Sometime prior to the year 32 BBY,^[4] the band was under the conduction of Beezar Pert, composer of the famous "Symponika Crunchen-Grand," a symponik detailing the events of the formation of the Gungan Grand Army. Pert took the young musikagung Augara "Augie" Jowil as his apprentice and instructed her until he retired. Despite Jowil's relative youth and inexperience, the members of the band unanimously elected her to be Pert's successor.^[1]

During 32 BBY's^[4] Invasion of Naboo, Jowil and the band evacuated the city of Otoh Gunga, along with the rest of the city's population, and fled from the invading Trade Federation to the Gungan Sacred Place.^[1] It was there Jowil got her chance to chronicle the historical event she never thought would come: the meeting of the Gungan Boss Rugor Nass and the Human Naboo led by Queen Padmé Amidala in order to regain freedom for the entire planet.^[5] Jowil composed the entire "Symponik Nabooalla," an epic for all of Naboo's denizens, in her head within days. The piece's first movement debuted during the Municipal Band's parade performance during the victory celebration in the capital city of Theed after the Naboo and Gungans successfully defeated the Trade Federation.^[1] The Band's performance was witnessed by representatives of the Galactic Republic such as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and the Jedi Council.^[2] That ensured Jowil's place in history as one of the group's most important leaders.^[1]

OrganizationEdit

The Great Municipal Band was composed of the finest musikagungs.^[1] It contained drum and bawoonka sections^[3] and had at least forty-two percussionists and several bawoonka players who were able to play while marching.^[2] The band also contained a choir^[2] and was led by a conductor and headquartered in the city of Otoh Gunga on Naboo.^[1]

Behind the scenesEdit

The Great Municipal Band made its first appearance in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace during the movie's final scene depicting the victory parade in the city of Theed,^[2] but was first named in the title of the last track of the film's soundtrack "Augie's Great Municipal Band."^[6] It later appeared in the second issue of the Star Wars Manga: The Phantom Menace comic series, released on January 19, 2000,^[7] as well as in the PhotoComic adaptation of The Phantom Menace, published on August 29, 2007.^[8]

AppearancesEdit

• Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (First appearance)
• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace PhotoComic
• Star Wars Manga: The Phantom Menace 2

SourcesEdit

• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace soundtrack (First identified as Great Municipal Band)
• Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace The Official Souvenir Magazine
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 8 (NAS4, Boss Nass) (Picture only)
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 108 (VIC3–4, Victory on Naboo) (Picture only)
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 131 (MUS1, Music and Musicians) (Picture only)
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. II ("Jowil, Augarra 'Augie'")
•  Augara "Augie" Jowil in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)

Notes and referencesEdit