The Red Army

With the threat of the Cold War now assigned to the pages of history books and the once-mighty Soviet Union taking the capitalist road, the threat of an imminent invasion by the Soviet Red Army is all but a memory.

Not that today's Russian military hierarchy has ceased organizing soldierly jaunts to faraway lands. Units of the Russian army still travel quite extensively. Only nowadays the troops that are transported across international boundaries need to ensure their passports and visas are valid, rather than simply dropping in unannounced.

The fact that the arrival of a company of Russian troops in Taiwan earlier this week received little attention had nothing to do "stealth." It had more to do with the fact that the complement of troops were not of the weaponry-toting variety.

Under the command of a very friendly Colonel Vladimir Veprintsev, the squad which arrived in Taiwan instead came armed with a collection of brass instruments.Which is not really surprising, as they were all members of The Russian Red Army Brass Band.

While the members have all served in the Russian military at one time or another, with the exception of Colonel Veprintsev and his deputy, Major Andrei Kapralov, none of the members who arrived in Taiwan longer serve the mighty Russian Bear in a military capacity.

"Sure, they have all done military service, but that was it militarily for most of the members," explained Major Kapralov via the groups' manager-cum-translator, Serguei Bortkevitch in an interview with the Taipei Times. "They are all professional musicians who have played with one of more of Russia's multitude of military bands and were asked to join [the Russian Military Brass Band] because of their professionalism."

Formed in 1995, the Russian Red Army Brass Band originally consisted of members of the Russian National Red Army Military Band, which was disbanded that same year in order to form a series of smaller military bands. Nowadays, however, the band mainly recruits its members from civilian orchestras and ensembles.

As well as seeing the formation of several dozen brass bands, the breakup of the Russian National Red Army Military Band also saw the creation of the Russian Military Jazz band, a group which not only performs at military ceremonies, but has also appeared at international jazz festivals.

Not that the Russian Red Army Brass Band hasn't basked in its own glory. Ranked as one of the worlds' top military bands -- the German and Hungarian national military bands being ranked first and second respectively -- the hard-blowing men of the Russian Red Army Brass Band have enjoyed hugely successful tours of Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia.

"It's not only in Russia where the band is popular. The band is well-known throughout Europe and have performed in San Francisco, where they were made to feel welcome and proved very popular," said the young Russian major.

While Russian youth has been wearing Levis and openly listening to music as diverse as the Sex Pistols and Sting since the Iron Curtain came down, the fall of the Soviet Union and militaristic communism hasn't dampened Russia's appetite for stirring militaristic harmonies. According to Bortkevitch, there are over 100 military bands in Russia, all of which include both military and civilian personnel and are still very popular.