Rock songs the way to go at Aussie funerals

By Pauline Askin

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Plasma screens. Webcams. Rock songs. This isn't a list for a party, but must-haves for a growing number of funerals at a major Australian cemetery.

Centennial Park Cemetery Authority, which runs the largest cemetery in South Australia state, says traditional liturgy and sombre ceremonies are being replaced with new high-technology funerals which reflect the deceased's personality.

One funeral even featured the song "Ding Dong! the Witch is Dead", from the movie "The Wizard of Oz", revealing something about the character of the person being farewelled.

"I know of some people who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness so have planned their own funeral, even down to the song they want played when they go," said Centennial Park chef executive Bryan Elliott.

In moving with technology, Elliott said funeral parlours and chapels were upgrading equipment to provide sound systems, plasma television screens and computers for families to use for presentations, and gadgets that allow overseas mourners to take part in the funeral over the Internet.

"We've got to move with the times," Elliott explained.

Funeral music is also changing with the times, with more mourners requesting rock anthems and pop classics such as "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Wind Beneath My Wings".

"In the context of celebration of life, some people say don't be sad at my funeral, celebrate the life that I had, and if the music helps that, then why not," Elliott said.