Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

One of the highlights of the trip to Edinburgh was the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.   The Tattoo is performed outside of the Edinburgh Castle, which provides a dramatic backdrop for the performance. This year was the 65th anniversary of the Tattoo.  Performances have been sold out for the last 15 years, so our tickets were ordered when they went on sale last December.

The term "Tattoo" refers to a long standing tradition where a piper would walk through town playing the pipes at the end of the evening, which would call the soldiers back to barracks.  In Dutch, the phrase "Doe den tap toe" meant "Turn off the taps" to the innkeepers.

The performers are by invitation only, and made up of bands playing pipes, drums, fiddles, as well as dancers.  Twenty eight troupes were included, comprising of over 1,100 musicians and performers from around the world.  Canada was represented by the Paris Port Dover Pipe Band.

The Pipe Major led the procession into the Esplanade.

One of the highlights was a fly by from the Royal Air Force.

The choreography was spectacular, and frequently included multiple bands and dance troupes performing together.

Te Matatini Maori Dancers from New Zealand were especially entertaining.

One of the more enjoyable performances was by the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force Steel Band, the only military marching band in the world playing steel drums.

The musical programme also included vocals provided by the Erskine Stewart's Melville Schools Choir, singing from the Castle entrance.

Much of the programme included the entire complement of musicians and dancers.

The finale was very touching.  It involved a single piper playing from the castle ramparts.  Traditionally, the lone piper signalled the day's end to the troops, and also bid farewell to the fallen soldiers.

The finale included all of the musicians and dancers playing a medley of tunes, including "Scotland the Brave".

That wraps up the blog updates from the trip.  I now face the task of reviewing the 4,500 images for further editing.  Ron and I have already talked about putting together a joint book of images.  I think two books are needed, one for the artistic side, and one for the fun side.  Mary Ann and Ricki were busy taking shots with their iPhones, so the book will be drawn from all four of us.

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Thanks for reading...

Mark