An exhibition intended to take visitors on a multi-faceted tour of Bermuda?s musical past opens tomorrow night.

?Ambassadors of Song? will be taking over the Masterworks Foundation gallery in the Botanical Gardens.

The show will focus on a range of musicians who used to be regulars on the Island in the period between the end of World War Two and when the stopped its local rendevous in 1966.

Organisers said the artists featured in the exhibition were the premier entertainers of tourists in their day.

The Talbot Brothers, Stan (Lord Necktie) Seymour, Sydney Bean, the Esso Steel Band, the Travellers, Celeste Roberts and Al Harris, the Strollers, Bishop Caines, the Four Deuces, the Kingsley Swan Band, dancer Ricky Tatem and Speedy Ming will all be included in this tribute exhibition.

The idea for the exhibition was sparked last year, organisers said, when Bank of Bermuda HSBC president Phillip Butterfield spoke about keeping the Island?s musical heritage alive during one of the Ross (Blackie) Talbot Golf Classic receptions.

His statement did not fall on deaf ears, said Masterworks Foundation director Tom Butterfield.

?It is incredible, and what we have unearthed is a wealth of Bermudiana, which really would have dissipated if something like this had not been pulled together,? he said.

Masterworks put together a committee of curator Elise Outerbridge, Marlene B. Landy, Nell Bassett, Ruth Thomas, Jennifer Hind, Mr. Butterfield and Webster Tucker to organise the exhibition.

?It was fun in the beginning because these guys had all been a part of these groups or had seen them,? said Mrs. Outerbridge.

?So they were ricocheting names off us that we had never heard of before. Then we realised how huge it was and we decided to narrow it down to the years right after World War II up until the time that left in 1966.

?But even that was tough, because we realised that there were hundreds of night clubs and hotels where people were able to play. This whole show is no slight to anybody that feels their name should be in there. It is just a point of reference to begin the whole research programme because we think there is a place for more shows that will cover the big bands, the Do-Wop singers and a lot of these other things.?

The committee then brought Elena Strong into their project because of her research and museum expertise.

Mrs. Outerbridge said she remembers the Angel?s Grotto and the Swizzle Inn, both of which were owned by her father-in-law, buzzing with music in decades past. She also recalled performers like Sydney Bean regularly visiting her home.

Bermuda was a very different place back then, she noted, and many black musicians were not even allowed in the front door of a venue.

?We are also exploring and addressing the fact that all these musicians broke barriers by refusing to go into the back door,? she noted. ?It was a very benign boycott, but in the Bermudian way, it kind of worked. Tom and I thought it was important because these kinds of situations need to be addressed. To be honest about it, this is the way it really was whether you like it or not.?

Organisers hope the exhibition will give young Bermudians a sense of Bermuda?s true cultural heritage.

?It is something that really sings to all of us,? Mrs. Outerbridge said. ?And what a shame it is that as people like the Talbot Brothers die out and are just forgotten. You can save a painting like Masterworks does or some old old albums, but people just don?t seem to carry on this musical heritage.?

Mr. Tucker remembers working with many of those whose contributions will be highlighted in the exhibition.

He spent 40 years working in broadcasting and commonly worked with many of the artists on the hotel and night club circuit.

While he remembers the talent of the artists, he said nothing could have prepared him for the wealth of information that would unfold as the exhibition was pulled together.

Bermuda truly had its own sound in those days, he said, and hearing what went into making that sound has been eye-opening.

Among others, he interviewed Roy Talbot, 91, the last surviving member of the Talbot Brothers, who played the one-string base.

?How they made the instrument was a whole story in itself,? Mr. Tucker said. ?With the information we managed to gather from them and their families, we could do ten exhibitions.?

The show will include paintings from the Masterworks Collection as well as musical paraphernalia.

And Mrs. Outerbridge said it offers an opportunity for the foundation to show off many works that people often suggest are mundane.

?For instance paintings of different hotels, the original Berkeley Institute, and certain pieces of artwork from our collection that reflect that whole era,? said Mrs. Outerbridge.

?This is an example of where people laugh at us and say, ?you don?t collect masterpieces?, but to Bermudians this is a masterpiece in reference to their lives and their heritage.?

Some of the other items that will be on display are things like Sydney Bean?s guitar, Charlie Butterfield?s steel pans and the drum kit he used when he worked with Hubert Smith.

The installation will be put up by window artist Will Collieson, who also has a show on until April 6 at the Gallery.

And, in conjunction with the show, Masterworks has put together a CD which will be available to those seduced by the sounds of the bygone era highlighted in the exhibition.

Mr. Butterfield said the whole experience has been a major learning curve and he looks forward to the opportunity the exhibit, catalogue and CD offer the public to learn.

?You realise that what these guys and women achieved was really major stuff. They were very original and this was not some of that hokey kind of little Island of Bermuda talent,? he said. ?This is real stuff and it quite staggered me to see what was coming out of it.

?The fact that they were writing their own lyrics and music, and putting it on paper was pretty good stuff.?

The CD is a compilation of 23 songs, most of which are originals, said Mr. Tucker.

Mr. Butterfield stressed the exhibition is not about getting Calypso back into the forefront of everyone?s consciousness.

?It is just to make sure that it is not forgotten or left behind entirely as if it didn?t exist,? he said. ?It is a really important aspect as to the way we were and the way we are. It is a part of our heritage that we have let slip a little and it is important that the people who made these contributions are given their just due.?