1951 was the year in which José María Ferrero composed his first Moorish march entitled Mozárabe Revert, dedicated to Rafael Revert, a renowned festive musician who that year held the position of first trò in the comparsa ( troupe ) to which the author himself belonged.

This was one of the four Moorish marches that Jose Mª Ferrero chose for the recording of the first single of festive music made in 1960, together with the marches Mozárabes 1960, Reige and Selarsejaria.

In 1954 he dedicated his second Moorish march to his fiancée and her family, using a somewhat complicated acronym for the title using the last syllables of all the members of the family: Selarsejaria (joSE piLAR joSE maruJA maRIA). This march was premiered at the entrance of the Moors and Christians of Alcoy that same year. Both this march and the previous one, Mozárabe Revert, enjoyed great popularity during this decade, and it even happened that in the same entrance in Alcoy only these two marches were performed, which was the basis for the author’s popularity.

This was one of the four Moorish marches that Jose Mª Ferrero chose for the recording of the first single of festive music made in 1960, together with the marches Mozárabes 1960, Reige and Mozárabe Revert.

In 1958 he composed the Moorish march Reige dedicated to his close friend Vicente Reig, who that year, like Rafael Revert, held the position of Primer Trò of the Mozárabes comparsa ( troupe ). This march was also premiered during the Alcoy fiestas of that year.

This was one of the four Moorish marches that Jose Mª Ferrero chose for the recording of the first single of festive music made in 1960, together with the marches Mozárabes 1960, Mozárabe Revert and Selarsejaria.

This march, the only work composed in 1959, is undoubtedly the Moorish march by Jose Mª Ferrero that has had the least repercussion of the 19 marches he composed during his life.

The year 1960, mainly for the celebration of the first centenary of the Moors and Christians of Ontinyent, was the author’s most prolific year, with three pasodobles and a Moorish march.

The Moorish march Mozárabes 1960 is dedicated to what was then his comparsa ( troupe ), of which he was the founder.

This was one of the four Moorish marches that Jose Mª Ferrero chose for the recording of the first single of festive music made in 1960, together with the marches Mozárabe Revert, Reige and Selarsejaria.

Jose Mª Ferrero grew up in a family that was markedly festive as well as music-loving, a circumstance that influenced his musical development. His father, Rafael Ferrero Morell, was a musician in the band (he played the horn as his son would later do) and lived the fiestas deeply from the Berberiscos Moorish comparsa ( troupe ) , of which he had been the founder.

Jose Mª composed the Moorish march El berberisch in 1961, dedicated to his father, and it was the first one he presented to the competition, obtaining the first prize in the composition contest of Alcoy held on 31st March of the same year.

This march was included, together with the Moorish march UMDA and the pasodobles Daniel Juan and Reina de Fiestas 1960 in the second single that Ferrero recorded in 1961.

The friendship that united Jose Mª Ferrero with Mr. Antonio Mompean, director of the band Unión Musical de Alcoy, led him to dedicate the Moorish march UMDA to this musical group in 1961.

This march was included, together with the Moorish march El Berberisch and the pasodobles Daniel Juan and Reina de Fiestas 1960 in the second single that Ferrero recorded in 1961.

Dedicated to the Alcoyana Marrakesch filá ( troupe ) of which the Unión Artística Musical de Ontinyent was the official band in the festivities from 1962 to 1982, and with which the author was linked by ties of friendship.

On 18th November 1965 he was awarded first prize at the II Festival de Música Festera de Alcoy for the Moorish march El Kabila, obtaining 910 of the 931 votes cast. The march was dedicated to Mr. Francisco Martínez Abellán, who was president of the Sociedad de Festeros from 1964 to 1967, and a personal friend of the author.

The composer was initially thinking of the Festeros and the audience who were to judge it, but his natural tendency could not prevent the composition from breaking out of the classicist moulds of his time and his inspiration from going beyond the traditional limits. The harmony and perfect rhythm give this march its unmistakable stamp.

In 1968 he composed the Moorish march Sauditas dedicated to the comparsa ( troupe ) of the same name, of which he was the founder. This march was presented to a contest under the motto Rub Al Khalí, but was not awarded a prize.

In his eagerness to reach new goals, he introduced a technique that broke the traditional line of the time. The introduction is very brilliant with the trombones as a portico, and then the rhythm builds up to a climax of undoubted beauty. There is a diversity of instrumental combinations that make this march an interesting composition with a very attractive line and suggestive harmony.

The Moorish march Bon capità is dedicated to the captain of the Moorish side of the Marrakesh rank of Alcoy in 1971, Mr. Roque Monllor, and won first prize in the composition contest held on 21 October of the same year.

Jose Mª Ferrero himself writes:

‘The Unión Artística Musical de Ontinyent and also myself were indebted to Mr. Roque Monllor during the Moors and Christians of Alcoy in 1971. His behaviour towards us was excellent. At no time was there any reason for us to be dissatisfied – something exceptional, since the development of these charges during the festivities, without being produced intentionally, can cause demands, delays, annoying situations, …-.

It was very difficult to reciprocate and thank this person for his attentions towards us. This was the reason that prompted me to dedicate the Moorish march Bon capità to him. I thought of capturing his great personality on the staves but this was not possible, as he has too many virtues to gather them all together in the spaces and lines of the staves. However, the introduction and the main theme of the march are inspired by the magnificent ‘arrancà’ that took place at the entrance of that year, and also by the marvellous development of the captain’s pomp during the whole journey’.

In 1974 Jose Mª Ferrero composed two Moorish marches: Marroquíes de Petrel, dedicated to the comparsa of the same name and to which D. Hipólito Navarro belonged. Hipólito Navarro, friend and organiser of the 1st Congress of the UNDEF, held in Villena; and a second one entitled OVANA ( antoniO lacueVA olciNA), dedicated to his close friend Antonio Lacueva. It so happened that in August the Caja de Ahorros del Sureste (Southeast Savings Bank) announced a composition prize at the same time that during the first week of September the aforementioned Congress was held, in which Jose Mª Ferrero collaborated in the organisation of the musical section and in which nine festive compositions were to be premiered, among them a Moorish march of his own. Ferrero hesitated between which one to present at each event, but it was his teacher, Father Pérez-Jorge, who convinced him that Ovana should be in the gala concert as it was a totally new work with a different compositional concept. The result was, first prize with Marroquíes de Petrel in the Caja del Sureste competition, awarded by the technical jury without interpretation, and admiration after the performance by the Villena municipal band of the aforementioned Ovana march. For its part, Marroquíes de Petrel was premiered in public on 15th December of the same year, performed by the Sociedad Unión Artística Musical de Ontinyent.

In the score Ferrero dedicates it to the Moroccans: ‘To live for a few moments in a small barracks of the Marroquies de Petrel is like being in the Harem at a Muslim festival. So let this modest composition go, so that the festivals may continue unceasingly with harmony and cordiality’.

In 1974 Jose Mª Ferrero composed two Moorish marches: Marroquíes de Petrel, dedicated to the comparsa of the same name and to which Mr. Hipólito Navarro belonged, friend and organiser of the 1st Congress of the UNDEF, held in Villena. Hipólito Navarro, friend and organiser of the 1st Congress of the UNDEF, held in Villena; and a second one entitled OVANA ( antoniO lacueVA olciNA), dedicated to D. Antonio Lacueva, president of the Society of Festeros from 1968 to 1971, town crier of the 1973 and 1979 fiestas and a close friend of Jose Mª. Ferrero. It so happened that in August the Caja de Ahorros del Sureste (Southeast Savings Bank) announced a composition prize at the same time that during the first week of September the aforementioned Congress was held, in which Jose Mª Ferrero collaborated in the organisation of the musical section and in which nine festive compositions were to be premiered, among them a Moorish march of his own. Ferrero hesitated between which one to present at each event, but it was his teacher, Father Pérez-Jorge, who convinced him that Ovana should be in the gala concert as it was a totally new work and with a different compositional concept. Ferrero was admired after the performance of the aforementioned march by the Villena municipal band in the Chapí Theatre.

Ovana was Jose Mª Ferrero’s most serious and important attempt to break out of the routine, the stagnation, and to look for new forms of musical expression of the fiesta. This march, with its atonal form, broke all the established channels, distancing itself from the popular.

In 1977 he composed the Muladíes.
Moorish march. A Moorish march of great beauty not always understood by neophytes. It is a war march, Moorish, spectacular and rich in nuances. Its strength and its unquestionable quality make it very well accepted by the authentic festeros and by those who have a deep knowledge of the authentic festive music. After Ovana, this march represents a further attempt at renovation without reaching the point of distancing itself from popular music, which makes it unsuitable for parades, as was the case with the previous attempt.

Jose Mª Ferrero dedicated almost all his work to different friends and characters of the fiesta, and he owed a debt to his family. For this reason, in 1980 he composed a Moorish march dedicated to his children under the title Els Fesils, the first syllables of their surnames (FErrero SILvage). It was premiered in November of the same year at the Santa Cecilia concert.

Along the lines of Ovana or Muladíes, it is one of Ferrero’s marches in which he tried to evolve in the forms and use new harmonic concepts that went beyond the classical moulds.

His friend Francisco Martínez Abellán and the then president of the Sociedad de Festeros de Ontinyent, Vicente Gil, both lawyers, introduced Mestre Ferrero to a circle of friends made up of lawyers, notaries and property registrars, who were planning to form either a comparsa or at least a special squadron, which would parade in the neighbouring town of Llutxent. After several meetings and rehearsals, on 25th April 1981 the special squadron paraded accompanied by the Ontinyent band, which premiered for the occasion the Moorish march entitled Els juristes, dedicated to this unique squadron. It is a march of great interpretative strength and enormous vibrations, with a lilting percussion and spectacular highs and lows, full of harmony.

Dedicated to this comparsa of Ontinyent in the year of its captaincy.

It is a march of great impact that perfectly combines all the springs: percussion, arabic motifs and spectacular forts that make the march appropriate for the festive parade.

In 1985 the II National Congress of the Moors and Christians festival was held in Ontinyent, of which Jose Mª Ferrero was vice-president. One of the personalities related to this event was Mr. Antonio García Miralles, at that time president of the Valencian Parliament. A native of Castalla, he was a ‘Moro Blavet’ fan, as well as an admirer of the master’s work, which he had expressed to him on different occasions. This led Jose Mª Ferrero to compose and dedicate the Moorish march Rais Agamir to him. In Arabic ‘Rais’ translates as ‘chief’, ‘he who commands’. ‘Agamir’, which sounds but is not Arabic, is the first syllables of the name and surname of Mr. Antonio GArcia MIRalles. It was premiered at the concert given by the Unión Artística Musical de Ontinyent at the aforementioned congress on 12 September 1985.

Its harmonies, although not atonal, are clearly modal. It uses a pentatonic scale repeated throughout its first part with a modulation that has a great effect on the listener and above all on the squadron that marches to its rhythm.

This was the last Moorish march composed by Jose Mª Ferrero.