The Enfield Shaker Singers will bring their long religious tradition to Faulkner Recital Hall this afternoon, as part of the Vaughan Recital Series. Nearby Enfield, one of the original Shaker communities, still maintains a hold on their once thriving culture and style.
The "Shaking Quakers," from which their name is derived, began their model community in Enfield in 1793, the ninth of 18 such settlements in the country. They founded it on principles of a productive, moral lifestyle that incorporated their strong Protestant values into every aspect of daily life.
The settlers endeavored to live away from the "world's people" and produce all of their material necessities themselves. The Shaker style of furniture, beautiful in its simplicity, remains popular to this day for its dedication to precision.
Though the Shaker sect has since been whittled down to several handfuls around the country, the Shaker Singers from Enfield continue to pay tribute to their long heritage. Today they will perform the traditional dances from "Solemn Play Before the Lord," a recently discovered manuscript of choreography, much of which was composed at Enfield.
As is the case with Shaker music, the dances will be accompanied not by musical instruments but by other Shakers singing spirituals and hymns.
Their unsettling style of worship, full of trembling and shouting, adds a breathtaking element to their songs, as well as some insight into their profound dedication to their beliefs.
The Shaker Singers, directed by Ann Haagen, promise to bring a refreshingly different vein of performance to the popular Vaughan Concert Series, recreating a cultural heritage that marks the infant years of the United States.
