Video: This Swedish choir sang an entire Christmas concert in the style of goats

The wailing noise the farm animals make has been Youtube viral fodder for a number of years now, with clever folks taking the initiative to inject their bleats into hits by the likes of Taylor Swift, and chalking up millions of views as a result.

Humans performing a full concert in the goat’s patented style was uncharted territory however – at least until now. That very bizarre combination took place in Sweden at the weekend, as a choir belted out 10 minutes of classic Christmas carols… while screaming like goats. Words don’t really do the strange performance full justice, so here’s "We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Goat Edition":

“It was very liberating! Choirs often tend to be very solemn and serious, so it was nice to make something fun out of it,” Daniela Westmark who sang in the choir told The Local.

“As a woman, there is often a focus on appearance and beauty, so we loved playing with that and perform a mixture between classic carolling and deep (or very high pitched…) vibrating goat screams!” she added.

There was a serious point behind the humorous bleating. The concert was organized by charity ActionAid, and is designed to highlight the important role that goats play in helping women to achieve self-sufficiency in poverty-stricken societies. The charity points out that the animals not only provide nourishment in the form of their milk, but this can also be sold to make money to buy seeds and pay tuition for children.

“ActionAid’s work is the primary reason why we wanted to be a part of the project in the first place: the choir is part of a female network with the aim to support women and encourage female artistry, so ActionAid’s fight for an equal society is something we can relate to and care for. We always wanted to keep a serious side to the concert, since the purpose is serious and important,” Westmark explained.

That said, it wasn’t always easy to keep a straight face while belting out the chorus to sombre songs like "Silent Night" in the style of an animal with a natural call which resembles a distressed human scream.

“At our first rehearsals there was a lot of laughter and it was hard to imagine that we were actually going to perform in front of an audience,” Westmark admitted.

“But after a while it became more and more serious and we came to love our goat versions of Christmas classics. Most of us also have a lot of acting experience, so we’re used to keeping our shit together, even though it’s an absurd situation.”

Incredibly, the goat versions of Christmas songs have even been recorded in the studio for posterity. On a CD called “All I Want For Christmas Is A Goat”, of course.