It starts with a smallish woman bundled up in a gray coat and a big, red scarf. She stands up from her lunch at a shopping mall food court in southern Ontario, Canada. A cell phone is pressed to her right ear. She opens her mouth and reveals a fixture-rattling soprano voice that belts the first couple of lines of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.”

Other choral co-conspirators planted in the crowd join in. Before long, the folks who thought an Arby’s roast beef sandwich would be the highlight of their afternoon have front-row seats to a booming a capella performance.

The singers are members of Chorus Niagra, which draws members from southern Ontario and the area around Buffalo, New York. The not-so-spontaneous event was organised by Alphabet Photography, which deals in products that use photo images to form letters and words. What’s their connection to these faux-flash-mob singers? Who knows? Who cares?

You can tell that some of the non-participants know the song well enough to move their lips a bit. Perhaps some have taken part in a “Messiah” singalong at a local church. But the best of the video is that our original soprano keeps that cellphone to her ear for the entire song.

“Hallelujah Chorus” at shopping mall food court