Brass players delight passengers with impromptu ‘The Bare Necessities’ on aeroplane

3 April 2025, 09:21 | Updated: 3 April 2025, 12:13

Passengers were treated to a sky-high performance by this German brass group.

A German brass group took their playing to new heights when they treated plane passengers to a performance of ‘The Bare Necessities’.

On a flight returning from their recent tour to China, members of the Munich-based brass band Biergartenmusi München (which translates to ‘Beer Garden Music’) performed the song from Disney’s 1967 film, The Jungle Book.

They played the Disney favourite on two trombones and trumpets for passengers and cabin crew, some who seemed more pleased about the spontaneous musical number than others.

Band treat passengers to Bear Necessities on flight

When creating the film, composer Terry Gilkyson was initially hired to write the songs but most of them were deemed too dark and sombre. The Sherman Brothers, who at that point had written music for several hit Disney films, including Mary Poppins and Sword in the Stone, were then brought in. Although they then wrote most of the film’s songs Gilkyson had one tune that survived: ‘The Bare Necessities’.

The song was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song but lost to ‘Talk to the Animals’ from Doctor Dolittle.

Read more: Which Disney songs have won an Oscar?

In an Instagram post, the band thanked airline Lufthansa for letting them put on live music at an altitude of 10km.