He came, he saw, he brought the house down

Singapore

MINISTER for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong arrived at a recent ChildAid rehearsal with his own electric guitar and went on to wield the six-string instrument like a maestro.

He had clearly learnt the chords of Thinking Out Loud, the popular Ed Sheeran tune he will play with a band of six at next week's concert. As the song began, he closed his eyes, clenched his jaw and let the rhythm flow through his fingers. At 42, he will be the oldest of more than 200 performers at ChildAid 2014, an annual concert by children to raise funds for two child-based charities, namely The Business Times Budding Artists Fund and The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund. Most of the performers are below 20 years, with the youngest just seven.