Tue, February 24, 2009
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony like you've never heard it before - not this year anyway.
The venue is Tokyo's famous Ryogoku sumo stadium. The event is a five thousand strong chorus complete with orchestra and the reason is well, it's tradition, or has been since 1985, where the mega sing-along began as a local event to revitalize downtown Tokyo.
Singers have flocked from all across Japan, with some even as far afield as the UK, Germany, Brazil and China.
SOUNDBITE:Rei Saotome, 39-year-old audience member, saying (Japanese):
"It was very moving to see people from various countries and all across Japan singing together in tune as one big soul."
SOUNDBITE: Kerstin Behnke, German conductor, saying (German):
''I was quite surprised how well it worked with 5000 people"
The Ninth Symphony, which lasts for more than an hour, is Beethoven's last complete symphony and is also known as one of his masterpieces.
Neena Dhaun, Reuters.
