If you happened to be walking around Lake Burley Griffin at dusk on Monday you would have heard something unbelievable: the sound of Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name being played on the National Carillon.
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Yes, that's what happens when you let a teenager play the 55 bells of our beloved carillon - they somehow find a way to bring modern relevance to a 17th century instrument. And it's awesome.
Teenagers Peter Bray and Harrison Whalan are two out of three of the capital's student carillonists, having trained for many years under the direction of carillonists Thomas Laue and Lyn Fuller.
The pair played their first public concert in April but it's a one-hour show they're playing at lunchtime this Friday that's set to reignite Canberra's love affair with our iconic island-based instrument.
This Friday, May 4 is international Star Wars day ("May the Fourth be with you" - get it?) and to celebrate, the National Capital Authority is swapping the automated Westminster Chimes for music from the space movies.
The May the 4th Be With You concert was concepted by 18-year-old Peter as a way to promote the instrument to a younger audience. With 55 bells weighing up to six tonnes each, the Carillon is normally associated with memorials and more formal affairs.
"I grew up watching the Star Wars movies and I had all the Lego sets, and I'm still a bit of an obsessive," Peter says.
"I arranged the Star Wars main theme for a previous concert and then worked on Rey's theme [from the movie Rogue One] and just thought it would be awesome to do an entire hour of Star Wars.
"At Christmas time [Aspen] island is packed - it's full with hundreds of people, and we'd love that many people to come along to this concert."
Darth Vader's Imperial March is on the agenda for Friday's concert, as well as Princess Leia's Theme and Yoda's Theme.
While fellow teen carillonist Harrison is less of a Star Wars fan, he's keen to show off his carillon-playing skills to a packed island of Canberrans. After all, he gave up playing rugby union to learn an instrument founded in the Netherlands in the 1650s.
"When I was first invited to become a trainee carillonist I was like, 'Ooh that's a lot of work'," Harrison says.
"It currently takes up four hours of my week, and they're four absolutely brilliant hours now, but at first it was like, 'That means I can't play rugby anymore'.
"But mum made the decision really easy for me because she was like, 'How many kids play rugby, and how many kids get to play the carillon?' and it was pretty easy after that."
If Friday's Star Wars concert is a hit the lads are keen to roll out more modern concerts on Aspen Island. Peter has his heart set on music from the Harry Potter movie series, while Harrison wants to see more rock played on the bells.
"There's a lot of stuff I'd like to be able to play on the carillon that I can't because it's all very guitar orientated," Harrison says.
"Whenever you hit the bells there's no way of stopping the noise, some of the notes ring out for 30 seconds at a time - so rock music doesnt work ... yet."
May the Fourth Be With You concert at the National Carillon, Aspen Island, Friday May 4 from 12.30pm to 1.30pm. Free event. Further information at www.nca.gov.au
