Politics hits a high note as MPs join pub choir
Annabelle Banfield |
House of Reps meet Crowded House: politicians experience plenty of stormy weather but this time they got a chance to sing about it.
Politicians from both sides of the aisle came together with staffers on Thursday for a ‘Pub Choir’ lunchtime sing-a-long of the Crowded House classic ‘Weather With You’.
The Pub Choir concept, started by Astrid Jorgensen in 2017, involves bringing strangers together to sing in chorus, no practice or musical ability required.
From humble beginnings in Brisbane, the former high school music teacher started a movement that has gone platinum worldwide.
But despite the show touring major cities from Tokyo to London and New York, Parliament House was always the dream location, Ms Jorgensen says.
“I’ve never had a dream for nine years that’s come true,” she told AAP.
“Every time I work with any group with a choir, you see the kind of humanity of each other and I thought that would be a really nice juxtaposition with the version that we see of the people that work in this building every day on TV and in the media.”
Ms Jorgensen said the parliamentary pub choir differed to her usual locations.
“These are some intellectual people who are pretty good at staying on task, so it seems,” the conductor said.
“They were following the instructions very well, different from a Friday night drunk crowd, which is a relief.”
The event proved a big hit with participants, some of whom admitted choir wasn’t an extra-curricular activity they planned on joining when getting into politics.
“We spend a lot of time disagreeing here, it’s great to be in a bit of harmony for an event like this,” said David Moncrieff, member for Hughes.
Bullwinkel MP Trish Cook has been to a Pub Choir event before today’s performance, but now has her sights set on more singing.
“This week is Mental Health Week, so it’s nice for us also to have a mental health break and just to share in the moment with colleagues from across all parties and staff as well,” the Labor politician said.
“I’m trying to start a parliamentary choir, just so we can have 20 minutes out of the week where we actually have some fun and some exercise.”
And Parliament House isn’t the only high-profile Pub Choir of the week.
“I’m going to Helsinki on Sunday to open for Oprah,” Ms Jorgensen said.
AAP