Albany Pro Musica Open Your Ears

Shaker Recordings

In the late summer of 2011, at the invitation of the Shaker Heritage Society, Albany Pro Musica had the unique opportunity to record several “lost” songs of the Shakers, a religious group known for their simplicity and communitarian living that first settled in Colonie, New York. You can read more about the Shakers here. Known for their ecstatic religious practices, their mostly monophonic music and simple furniture, the Shakers were one of the first religious sects to espouse gender equality. Below are a few of the results of this unique recording session, which took place in the historic 1848 Shaker Meeting House.