ORGANISERS of a German Cultural event held in Belfast at the weekend have denied that a band at the event played The Sash - insisting it was a German marching tune.
Those behind Oktoberfest Belfast last night said the marching tune, which had a "similar back beat" to the loyalist anthem, was "hi-jacked by a group of gentleman who started singing the words to The Sash".
The celebration of food, beer and music was being held in the King's Hall for the second consecutive weekend.
In a statement on their Facebook page, the Belfast Bavarian Strollers said the music that had been confused with The Sash in question was 'Old Comrades' by Carl Teike.
The band urged people to listen to the original piece and "make your own mind up."
But a number of complaints were made by revellers, who said they were offended by the music.
One man last night told The Irish News he asked for his money back after "the band began to play The Sash".
"The crowd then got up and were singing it," he said.
"We didn't want to get up and leave straight away, but shortly afterwards we did and went up and asked for our money back, we had only been in the place for 40 minutes.
"A woman who was in charge asked us if we were offended by it and we told her we were."
In a statement on its Facebook page, the Oktoberfest organisers denied the band were playing The Sash and claimed it was a German marching tune.
"It has been brought to the attention of Oktoberfest Belfast that people have been offended by some music that was allegedly played last night," they said.
"The band, The Belfast Bavarian Strollers contracted through Glen Houston Entertainments, have played at the event for the past three years and have played the same set every night.
"We would like to clarify that the song played was a German marching song and has no political alignment, the song itself has a completely different melody but has a similar back beat to a song called The Sash, which was hi-jacked by a group of gentleman who started singing the words to The Sash even though that was not the song being played. The band did not play The Sash."
Organisers said the "group were removed for this action".
The statement added: "Both the management team and band are a mixture of religions and would like to promote the fact that Oktoberfest Belfast is cultural celebration and do not condone any sectarian behaviour".
