WHEN it comes to music the Queen is fond of a blast from the bagpipes. However, at Monday’s Diamond Jubilee Concert – one of several Jubilee events planned to mark the Monarch’s 60-year reign – there will be much more than a windy squeeze from a tartan bag.
During a grand event staged in front of Buckingham Palace, international artists representing each decade of the Queen’s reign will perform, and Australia will play an important role.
“It’s exciting,” Kylie Minogue said of her Jubilee concert involvement.
“I love London at the moment. I was joking saying: `I’m ready to put my bunting up.’ You can’t help getting swept up in the jubilee, and the Olympics is coming. It’s very exciting.
“(The concert is) going to be in The Mall with Buckingham Palace behind … I’ll be nerve-wracked, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Australian Aboriginal artist Gurrumul will also be on the Jubilee stage and is featured in a track, Sing, written by Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Gary Barlow especially for the Jubilee, which will be performed live on the night.
“The song starts with a little girl from Kenya, where the Queen’s reign started,” Barlow said. “The last person to sing is Gurrumul, who has been blind since birth.”
Some 200 people from across the Commonwealth collaborated on the song, with joker Prince Harry playing the tambourine, Barlow said.
“The single ends with a blast of bagpipes … they are one of Her Majesty’s favourite things so we had to include them,” he said.
“I recorded our bagpipers in Australia, of all places. They are the Canberra Bagpipe Orchestra, but they had been taught by Scots pipers so the DNA is there.”
Ten thousand tickets have been issued for Monday’s concert spectacular, which will be performed on a circular stage surrounding the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of the palace.
The Queen and Prince Philip, along with other senior royals, will be in the audience to see a star-studded line-up that also includes Elton John, Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey, Cliff Richard, Robbie Williams, Jessie J, Annie Lennox, and Ed Sheeran.