Singing for Social Change

An interesting sight (and sound) from last weekend was the Complaint Choir of Hong Kong. The choir assembled in the middle of a very busy street on a rainy afternoon:

And they sang:

We don't know what the song was about - the sing-along guide was in Cantonese.

There was some background information included in the guide that was written in English. It that said that the complaints choir concept originated in Finland and "is about gathering a group of people to voice out their dissatisfactions with the cities/countries they are living in by singing a song together." It also said that there are complaints choirs around the world; that may be the case, but this is the first one we've ever seen.

Seeing the choir gave me a new idea for public involvement in local government. Perhaps we should consider having events like "Budget Hearing Sing-Alongs" or a "Public Hearing Musical." I can already imagine some of the tunes...