GORDON Thomas, the Bermuda-born musician featured in the BIFF documentary , last week declared the island he hadn't seen since the age of three "a genuine paradise".

Born in 1917 to Bermudian George Thomas and Beatrice Matthews Thomas, a native of St. Kitts, Gordon left the island at the age of three, when the family moved to New York. The musician returned to the island for the first time last week, courtesy of film-makers Malcolm Fraser and Stacey DeWolfe ? the pair thought it appropriate he was present for the documentary's premiere at the eighth Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF).

"I really didn't have any expectations of Bermuda," Mr. Thomas said. "In the first place, because I didn't know I would be coming here until recently, I only had a short time to think about it.

"I did write a song about Bermuda which is on one of my earlier albums, but I wrote it from an advertisement I saw in a travel agency ? I didn't know much.

"I used to hear little bits about it from my mother and father, but as a child you don't pay too much attention when adults are talking. What is interesting is that suddenly, something will happen and one of those memories will come back to me.

"When I was writing the song, there were times I realised I wasn't writing about something I'd read about but something I'd actually experienced. But I was so young when I left here, I had no idea really, of anything here."

Mr. Thomas had been independently recording and releasing music for 40 years without commercial success ? he played the trombone for Dizzy Gillespie's band and worked briefly with Ella Fitzgerald. As a vocalist, he produced a stream of his own records and, though 88, intends to revisit the studio this month to make another.

When friends played a well-worn cassette for Mr. Fraser and Ms DeWolfe in 2001, they were intrigued. Unfamiliar with him as an artist and unable to discover anything about him, they endeavoured to track him down and spent a year searching before they found him, still making music in New York City.

The film-makers decided to record their journey and the resulting documentary, had its premiere at BIFF.

"Bermuda is paradise," Mr. Thomas said, seated in a lounge chair in the Heritage Court at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel. "Whenever I think of the islands ? and I'm including Bermuda in with them ? I always think of Jamaica as the capital, like Washington, DC. and Bermuda like New York.

"Bermuda's a money town. You can't get away from that. The rest of the islands are just now trying to catch up with you. They're now finding that they have good resources that they can really capitalise on. Bermuda is so far ahead of them.

"It's unbelievable. I find the white roofs fascinating. You look out and see them everywhere. I wondered what's all that about? Why would everybody paint it white? Why wouldn't somebody paint it green?

"And then I found out that it was to purify the water. So if I ever write another Bermuda song that would be the first thing I would talk about. There's probably a lot of people who come to Bermuda and don't pay much attention to that, they just think it's something that's been done. But it's more than that. It's life itself. Water's life, so a situation like that is very important."

Only here for a short stint, Mr. Thomas said his sightseeing experiences had been limited to the western end of the island and walks though Hamilton.

"Malcolm, Stacey and I took the ferry to Dockyard ? which was nice ? and then we took the bus back to Hamilton," he explained. "I couldn't see too much. The roads are very narrow, but I can understand that. The lady who was driving the bus was very nice."

Asked if he understood what had driven his parents to live an island he found so impressive Mr. Thomas said he did.

"Don't forget Bermuda wasn't built up like it is now, you see. You're talking about 80 years ago. There was quite a difference. My parents were glad to get away. Everybody knew you could make more money in the United States.

"As I was growing up, nobody ever really talked about it. And even if they did, most people who came from Bermuda or the West Indies only talked about going back home to die ? of course, they never got back.

"My parents might have talked about Bermuda, but we as kids wouldn't have paid attention to that anyway. Using my imagination though, I always believed it would be a great place."

There were many reasons he had never made the trip to Bermuda before, Mr. Thomas said. Having now seen its beauty for himself, the musician said he would be interested in paying a second visit.

"The only reason why I didn't come before is money," he said. "If I told you anything else it would be a lie. It's not that I didn't want to come. Because I didn't have the money, I never gave it a thought. Especially as I had nothing, really, to come for.

"Maybe if I knew I had relatives here. In any case, I didn't even think about it. And, being in the music business, my mind was more on the States, because there's more opportunity there.

"Maybe after I get a couple of hits and have a lot of finances, I'd probably come back to Bermuda just out of curiosity. This trip was a real awakening for me. I now know this is where I was born. I've come to know that it's so beautiful ? and I was born here. I can't believe it."

q For more information on , or to hear Mr. Thomas' music, visit www.gordonthomas.com.