Band
appearances doubled
Kirsty Macnicol
The Southland Times
June 30, 2001
THE
City of Invercargill Caledonian Pipe Band's Pipin ' Hot
has proved so popular in Canada that organisers of the
Nova Scotia International Tattoo have doubled the number
of times the band will appear in the show.
The nine-show tattoo begins in Halifax on Canada's east
coast tonight (NZ time). Staged indoors, it boasts a cast
of more than 2000 from eight countries and by the season's
end will have performed to about 100,000 people.
The Invercargill contingent, the first New Zealand band
to be invited to the tattoo, was originally to have performed
a 5-minute solo spot
incorporating a marching display with a medley of Pipin
' Hot tunes,
massed music and marching items.
However, on the strength of the solo act and the excellent
reviews that preceded the band's arrival from Victoria,
the tattoo's producer scheduled two more solo Pipin '
Hot tunes into the show. Backing band members have also
been appointed New Zealand flag bearers for the opening
and closing ceremonies.
The band arrived in Halifax a week ago and has been rehearsing
every day from 8am, often not finishing until 9pm.
The work has been made harder with temperatures in the
high 30s. Two days ago it hit 40degC and was made even
more uncomfortable by high humidity.
Pipe major David Pickett said the producer and musical
directors were
touting this as the best tattoo yet. The acts were as
varied as the Flying Grandpa gymnasts from Germany and
France's Paris Fire Brigade acrobatic team to traditional
dancers from Korea.
Pipin ' Hot has been rated among the top acts and was
selected to
perform at a special media launch earlier this week. It
was also featured on a live, Canada-wide breakfast television
show.
Today it will take part in another live television broadcast.
Print
journalists have also sought interviews with the Kiwis.
There were stark differences in this show compared with
the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Scotland, Mr Pickett
said.
"The Nova Scotia Tattoo is almost a cross between
an outdoors tattoo and a stage production and our band
has strengths in both areas and is finding combining the
two strengths challenging but also very exciting."
The band had the luxury of special lighting, pyrotechnics
and sound, Mr Pickett
said. Several members of the band wore radio-microphones
as they did in Pipin ' Hot.
"Some of the Canadian drill movements are different
from the Scottish drill movements so we've had to learn
to perform them the Canadian way," he said.
Last night's dress rehearsal, performed before a full
house of family and friends of cast members, ended in
a standing ovation.