FORMER Government House aide-de-camp Wayne Smith, now doing his best to present a unified tourist product as executive director of the Bermuda Alliance of Tourism, has been wearing both his tourist hat and his military cap this week.

Major Smith is accompanying the Bermuda contingent to the Musikchau der Nationen, the National Music Show in Bremen, Germany, and reported to the Mid-Ocean News yesterday that the contingent had arrived safely in the northern German city.

He held his cell phone so that a reporter could hear the unmistakable sound of the gombeys performing at 8.30 local time last night, before an audience of some 7,000 in the AWD Dome, the venue for the four nights of the international music show.

"There are bands from 11 countries," reported Major Smith, "mostly military bands, but including the Turkish Police Band and other bands from 11 countries, including the US, France, Belarus, the Netherlands, and obviously Germany."

The Bermuda group of some 60 people comprises the Bermuda Regiment Corps of Drums, the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band, the Bermuda National Gombey Troupe, and steel pan player Robert Symonds.

They are taking part in this international show as part cultural exchange, and part general promotion of Bermuda. The group performs together for about 15 minutes, and will perform for four consecutive nights in the German city, travelling back to Bermuda on Tuesday.

"We left Bermuda on Tuesday on British Airways, and flew on BA to Frankfurt on Wednesday morning, then we took a Lufthansa flight to Bremen. The bands from all of the units had a rehearsal this morning. It's not a competition, just a show of music from different countries," Mr. Smith explained.

"The musicians all play together, and the gombeys are interspersed among them."

Major Smith said Bermuda took the opportunity of setting up a booth at the entrance to the dome, and that he saw himself as doing double duty during the trip.

"I am wearing two hats," said Mr. Smith, "representing the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism, and the Regiment. Not all of the countries have a booth, but we were smart and aggressive and used our initiative, and asked for the opportunity.

"We are one of the few countries promoting itself as a tourist destination, and so far, the interest is good and the booth is proving very popular, and Gosling's and Barritt's donated rum and ginger beer so that we could offer visitors to the booth a sample of Dark 'n Stormy, to give them a taste of Bermuda.

"We have an excellent location at the entrance where there are promotional items, posters, flags, and give-aways."

"The gombeys and Robert Symonds are going to perform during the intermission, and the whole contingent performs before the intermission. We have had a lot of help from Reimar and Wendi Fiedler of Panatel, who were actively involved in getting the Bermuda contingent to appear in the show."

Major Smith conceded that people would not normally travel to the Baltic coast of Germany in winter without a special reason.

"It's freezing cold here, but the contingent is having a great time, and one of the gombey troupe drummers, Dennis Parsons, has been enjoying a bit of solo cultural interchange by practising with the members of the Dutch band in the dining hall, showing them different beats. It was like something out of the movie Drumline."

"We're planning to do a bit of sight-seeing, but clearly their main focus is participation in the show. It's a good cultural exchange, giving the bands some exposure and promoting the island. They are all enjoying it; the morale of the group is very high, and they are delighted to be here representing the country."