Early morning arts

I went to see the Jubilation Gospel Choir this morning. Part of the Wellington Jazz Festival. http://www.jubilation.co.nz/.
Slightly surreal going into the town hall into a dimly lit Jazz club atmosphere at 10.30 in the morning.
And slightly surreal to see an African-American Gospel choir without, I think, an African gene between them. And certainly if you closed your eyes you would know for sure that they were neither African-American nor West Indian.
Also they all had microphones. Which I didn’t really expect.
Having said all that they were a really great choir. About half of them performed at least one solo – and the soloists were strong. Despite the individually strong and distinctive voices they managed to blend their voices brilliantly when singing chorally. It is always impressive when a choir reaches such a high professional standard.