When the massed pipes and drums stepped onto the Edinburgh Castle Esplanade during the 2026 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, one figure out front instantly caught everyone’s eye. Drum major Sukhvinder “Suki” Singh Sunger led the Vancouver Police Pipe Band in traditional Highland dress paired with a neatly matched tartan turban and a full beard. The look was striking, natural, and entirely in step with the grand scale of the parade ground.
The performance came from the Tattoo’s 2026 season, titled “A Call to Gather,” which brought together more than 800 international performers under the lead service of the Royal Air Force. In a march-out video shared by uploader Yao Hui and dated by the creator to August 26, dozens of musicians filed across the stones. As the massed pipes and drums launched into “Scotland the Brave,” the Canadian contingent helped drive one of the most memorable exits of the month.
A drum major’s role is much more than looking sharp at the front of a parade. Under ceremonial handbook rules, the position demands constant focus, using mace gestures, visual cues, and voice commands to control marching tempo, direct maneuvers, and signal clean stops for the ranks behind. Sunger, an active Vancouver police constable who joined the department in 2002, took on the responsibility after being elected drum major for a three-year term in late 2025.
His band brings plenty of heritage of its own. Established in 1914 and recognized as the official band of the City of Vancouver, the ensemble originally started with sixteen officers and has since expanded to include civilian players. Sunger also had previous experience bringing distinct musical worlds together. During a 2019 band appearance at Canada House in New Delhi, he traded his Scottish drum for a Punjabi dhol while the pipers played Muhammad Iqbal’s “Sare Jahan Se Accha.” A clip titled “Drum Major from the Vancouver Police Pipe Band. #drummajor #police #pipeband” highlights Drum Major Sukhvinder Sunger with his mace.
Online, the clip quickly found a huge audience, gathering over 1.55 million views by November 2026. Commenters focused heavily on Sunger’s composed bearing and distinctive look, with one viewer calling the tartan turban “majestic.” Another fan pointed to the sheer sonic punch of the pipes, remarking that once the band launched into “Scotland the Brave,” “Everyone else was eclipsed.”
International acts have been a fixture of the Edinburgh Tattoo since 1952, so global guests marching beneath the castle walls are nothing new. Even so, seeing a Canadian Sikh officer leading a pipe band in full Highland regalia gave the traditional military tattoo a modern, cosmopolitan pulse. Sunger looked completely at home leading the ranks, proving how well classic Scottish ceremonial music can share space with different cultural traditions.