St Tropez was a former Greek colony founded in the 3rd century BC Its name - which it took in the 3rd century - is derived from Torpes, officer of the court of Nero, martyred in Pisa in the year 68 and whose body, Decapitated, exposed on a boat, miraculously entered the city on 17 May, which was to bear his name.

His past was very agitated. For centuries, St Tropez, with its crenellated citadel, massive towers and ramparts, was a fortress undergoing constant attacks by the invaders and pirates of the coast, especially the Saracens in the 9th century. The Tropezians lived with arms in their hands. The city has kept its proud ancestral motto: "Ad Usque Fidelis" - Faithful to the end!

TRADITION OF FIFTH

To address the question of the traditional fife in St Tropez, it is essential to mention the role played by Marius FABRE de Barjols. According to his testimony, Marius FABRE returned from the regiment, in Barjols, on the eve of the 1931 branches.

The following week, he began making his first fife and playing it. On Easter Monday he went with his brother Joseph, who already owned a fife, to the traditional appointment of the captain of Ville in st Tropez, then the 16, 17 and 18 May to the famous Bravade of that city. And this is how it happened later in St Tropez, the following years with fifes coming from Barjols and Arcs and Signes from 1963.

Since 1929, there had been no more Tropezians playing fife. Before 1930, only a musician still played Fife music at the Bravade.

Marius Fabre was summoned to St Tropez to introduce young people to the Fife. A "school of the fifre" was born around October 1969, in particular with the assistance of Tony BAIN - also tambourine - by Jean-Louis AUGIER and later by Georges GIRAUD.

And on September 16, 1990, on the occasion of the 9th Fête of the Fife, held in St Tropez, we were able to celebrate the 60 years of fife of Marius FABRE, rightly recognized as one of the artisans of the renewal of the fife to St. Tropez. The Medal of St Tropez and a golden fife were handed to him. Jean-Louis AUGIER was associated with this tribute, receiving a well-deserved silver fife for 20 years of activity at the service of the fife in the St Tropez region, as a musician, instrument maker and teacher of young pupils.