SOA to Join Other Pacific Barbershoppers in New Zealand! - Sep 13, 2023

The Sounds of Aloha Chorus is thrilled to be preparing to travel to New Zealand in September for the 2023 Pan Pacific Barbershop Convention, which also is the 2023 Convention of Barbershop Harmony New Zealand!

Our chorus was honored to host the second Pan Pacific Convention in 1998 -- which 320 New Zealand barbershoppers attended -- as well as the fifth in 2008. This year's Pan Pacific will be the ninth and will be held where it all began: in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland. Other PanPacs have been held in Christchurch and Wellington, New Zealand, as well as Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney, Australia

This year the Sounds of Aloha will compete in the chorus contest, and four of our local quartets in the quartet contest: H4, 21 North, Funny Bones, and 19th Avenue. But beside the competition, the convention will days of camaraderie and fun with our fellow singers from the Pacific.

We are so excited to be returning to New Zealand, where we have many fond memories of previous visits. It's extra special for us because it was the visit of a Sounds of Aloha quartet in 1972 -- the Merry Macs -- that originally helped nurture the seeds of barbershop harmony in New Zealand's fertile soil. Singing tenor with the Merry Macs was the indomitable Bill Joor, who still sings with us and with his son Mike Joor and grandson Cameron Juresich in the quartet Funny Bones!

We look forward to this celebration of harmony!