Strindens Promenade Orchester is a student wind band in Trondheim, Norway. It holds the world record in "speed playing" of John Philip Sousa's famous marching song Stars and Stripes Forever . The band calls their speedy rendering of the march Stars and Stribes, and performs the march at meetings at the Trondheim Student Society. Set during the fall term of 1999, the record time is 50.9 seconds (nominal time is 3 minutes 50 seconds). For this, the band is noted in the Norwegian edition of the Guinness Book of Records.
Trondheim is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It has a population of 193,501, and is the third-most populous municipality in Norway, although the fourth largest urban area. Trondheim lies on the south shore of Trondheim Fjord at the mouth of the River Nidelva. The city is dominated by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research (SINTEF), St. Olavs University Hospital and other technology-oriented institutions.
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northwestern Europe whose territory comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula; the remote island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard are also part of the Kingdom of Norway. The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land.
John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known primarily for American military marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King", or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart, Kenneth J. Alford also being known by the former nickname. Among his best-known marches are "The Stars and Stripes Forever", "Semper Fidelis", "The Liberty Bell", "The Thunderer" and "The Washington Post".
The orchestra was founded at Havstein cemetery at 5:04 p.m., April 28th, 1963. This site was chosen because the founders thought that "it was the only place where nobody would be disturbed". The orchestra celebrates this event twice a year.
