Jubilation Gospel Choir

Saturday 21 August 2010 to Saturday 11 September 2010

Formed in the year 2000, Jubiliation is a gospel choir based in Auckland, New Zealand. We are not affiliated to any church (indeed many of us are not religious); we simply get together every Tuesday night because we love to sing this music and all of us get a kick out of trying to sing it well.

Although our repertoire is firmly rooted in traditional African-American gospel, we also sing songs by contemporary songwriters that draw on that tradition (e.g. Ben Harper, Cissy Houston, Rev. Richard Smallwood and even Van Morrison, Tom Waits!) as well as having the luxury of an in-house song-writing and arranging team. At present our repertoire stands at about 50 songs and we try to add one or two new songs for every gig to keep things interesting.

Even though our membership of 30-plus singers includes professional musicians and actors (e.g. Jackie Clarke, Rick Bryant, Amanda Billing, Jean McAllister, Fiona Samuel, Jennifer Ward-Lealand…) that is not a requirement. In fact, many of us don’t read music. But, regardless of our background, we aim for professional standards of performance and recording (there is a CD on the way).

Because we have such a pool of talent in the group we don’t have a single musical director, instead a team of five people give the group direction. This is the sort of group where everyone's input is valued.

Our performance schedule keeps growing. We perform at various venues around Auckland that take our fancy (we like the acoustics found in old churches so often will take one over for a Saturday night). We try to do two gigs each summer at the fabulous Leigh Sawmill. We are invited to festivals around the country from West Auckland to Tauranga to WOMAD in New Plymouth. We are in increasing demand for fundraising and corporate events and have made appearances in places like Kim Hill’s radio show and on the sound track of the movie “No. 2”.

Further details on the choir: www.jubilation.co.nz