FIFTY Fijians were part of the biggest Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Sydney, Australia, last week.
The event, held from October 17-19, featured 50 musicians and support staff from the Republic of Fiji Military Forces brass band.
The Tattoo was displayed before a full-sized replica of Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle with a record cast of more than 1500 people in a three-hour spectacle of military pageantry, music, dance and fireworks.
Titled “At All Points of the Compass”, the event was built upon the traditional Tattoo mainstays of massed military bands, bagpipes and drums, highland dancers and fiddlers.
Tattoo producer and CEO Brigadier (Ret’d) David Allfrey, MBE, said the event demonstrated the close connection shared by participating nations.
“This show is particularly special in that it celebrates Australia and its relationships with neighbours in all directions,” he said.
“That includes friendships well established in the past, growing in the present and to be developed in the future.”
Thirteen nations took part including contingents from Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.
RFMF band member corporal Lemeki Moceiwasa, no stranger to big events, said it was interesting to be involved in the professionally choreographed show.
“It’s somewhere where the superstars, professionals, amateurs and newcomers can all come and mingle together. “It feels just like I’m in heaven,” he said.
