The Artesia DES band was founded in 1972. They are the second oldest Portuguese band in California currently with 55 musicians, consisting of younger players. Their greatest goal is to practice, shape and harmonize this young group.

David Costa is currently the "Mestre" (band director) and is also the person who graciously provided the song that you are currently listening to (pls give it some time to upload as the filesize is 1mb). He also ensembled a piece for Vitor Ribeiro, the Forcados do Sul de California, and Matador Mario Miguel.

To learn more about the band and Artesia D.E.S, please visit their site at http://artesiades.org.

Back on January of 1972, a group of men re-searched the possibility of forming a musical group to play at a "Danca de Espada" (typical medieval theatrical dance). These men were successful in putting together such a project that a few months later - in June of 1972 - they were asked to play at the "Portuguese Day" - promoted by the Eagle Soccer Club - in the Artesia Park. The first song they played was called "O teu trompete". From then on the idea of founding a portuguese band grew stronger.

On 27th of July of 1973 the band played at the celebration of the "Holy Spirit" in Artesia, for the first time under the name of Artesia Portuguese Band.

In 1974, the Filarmonica was incorporated into the Artesia DES, thus becoming the Filarmonica do Artesia D.E.S. Throughtout history they have represented their hall and the Portuguese Community all over California, as well as Fall River, Massachusetts (in 1997), and the Azores Islands (in 1986 and 2002). The first "Festival das Filarmonicas" in California was organized in 2004. They plan to continue visiting many parts where immigrants have settled or where their fore fathers came from.