But then, as the pallbearers begin lowering the coffin, colourful, helium-filled balloons soar aloft and the mourners begin swaying to Jose Carreras' ``Time to say goodbye''. Meanwhile, the whole event is recorded on videotape for replay at family reunions.

Germans are discovering the fun of funerals, according to industry experts, who tout ever more outrageous offerings to carve out a marketing niche in an ever more competitive industry.

You want to send Uncle Siegfried's ashes aloft in a space capsule? The sky's not the limit, if you have the money to pay for it, industry experts say.

``Our space burials are still rather the exception to the rule,'' admits Eberhard Schoebitz, who has put the ``showbiz'' into funerals at his Ahorn-Grieneisen funeral home in Berlin. ``But the trend is definitely towards customised funerals.''

And that means anything goes andeverything is up for grabs, from the nature of the eulogy, to the location, the funeral rites themselves, the music, and the kind of coffin.

``Funerals in Germany were staid affairs for centuries,'' Schoebitz says. ``We would just nail a coffin together and dig a hole.'' Coffins were always oak or pine in Germany.

Not any more, Schoebitz says. People want customised coffins and many no longer wait for relatives to pick one, opting instead to pick out their own coffins ahead of time.

Artists like to design their own eternal resting place, he notes. And the ecologically minded want to be sure that their casket, including the handles, is as biodegradable as its contents.

There are those who opt for a polished birchwood casket with a miniature bonsai-style landscape of moss and tiny trees atop.

``We even had one longtime postal employee who wanted a casket in German federal post mustard yellow with the federal post insignia on it,'' says Schoebitz.

Mournful hymns and melancholy tunes are also shunnedby many modern Germans. If auntie Heidi loved oompah-pah music, then she gets oompah-pah music at her funeral.

``We have a veritable hit parade of top singles,'' says Rolf-Peter Lange, another funeral director. ``Frank Sinatra, you name it, we got it.''

The German funeral industry, long stuck in custom and tradition, has become a true service industry, says Schoebitz.

``Our customers demand personalised service from start to finish.''

That includes inheritance tax advice and suggestions for the financial situation for survivors, along with housing for elderly singles and counseling in grieve management.

They also offer legal advice. And for Germany's large ethnic Turkish population, counseling is provided in Turkish and Islamic rituals are respected.

Part of that service-oriented stance is reflected in Schoebitz's insistence that customers be advised that ``expensive does not always mean better''.

``You don't have to drive a Mercedes to be treated like a Mercedes driver by us,'' he says, almostas though he was a car salesman rather than a funeral director.