Edinburgh Tattoo — Taking leave of its senses?

Every August for the past 58 years visitors from around the world have gathered to witness and enjoy the Edinburgh tattoo. The Tattoo is a musical extravaganza conducted on the castle esplanade. The performances are, for the most part, military-oriented.

This year Major-General Euan Loudon, formerly head of the British army in Scotland, has taken the reins of the Tattoo. He has observed that many of the visitors in recent Tattoos are from the Pacific Rim. "That tells me that I probably need to think a little bit about the make-up of the show ... and make sure that we give people who come from the other side of the world a taste of something of their own culture," Yahoo News Singapore reports him saying.

I don't know about you, but when I travel to a foreign country it is not to see and hear my own culture. I want to see and hear the native sights and sounds. I certainly do not want to spend the enormous amount of American dollars to go to Scotland and hear Chinese, Japanese, and Korean music unless it fits in with the typical Tattoo repertoire.

Don't take me wrong, I have nothing against the Orient. However, I do not want to go to Scotland to see and hear it. I would like to visit China, Japan, and Korea and there to see and hear all that constitutes those countries.

What makes the Tattoo worth going to see and hear is the distinctiveness of Scotland. I hope the new chief executive officer of the Edinburgh Tattoo will bear that in mind.