Basel Tattoo

No, I'm not considering getting a tattoo that says "Basel". 

The Basel Tattoo is an event that finished this week, a gathering of military bands from all over the world for performances in Basel (and has nothing to do with ink tattoos). Tattoo is a term that means military drum performance and is derived from the Dutch term for "taps". The tradition apparently dates back to the 17th century when drumming was used to call the soldiers back to their barracks at night. In the US, I grew up going to summer camp where taps would be played with a bugle over the loudspeaker at night when it was time for "lights out". Taps is commonly used as such in the US military. But here's some fun bar trivia for you: the original Dutch term literally meant "turn off the tap". It was a signal to the innkeepers to stop serving beer to the soldiers. A musical "last call", if you will. I never guessed that "taps" actually was related to a real tap!

The Basel Tattoo invites military groups from around the world to attend. This year, countries such as Australia, Japan and the US were present.  We were able to see the bands parade through Basel last Saturday. The Basel Tattoo is called the second largest event of its kind in the world, second to Edinburgh, Scotland. Many of the groups were wearing traditional dress. For example, there were quite a few kilts, and "fuzzy" hats from England.

The bands play traditional marching songs, and not-so-traditional marching songs that everyone knows. For example, we heard the theme song from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. ("duh-duh-duh duh..." If the song doesn't immediately come to mind, try YouTube.) The actual band concert takes place in the Basel military barracks, in an open-air setting. Tickets sell out extremely quickly for this popular event, but it would be interesting to go while we're here.