Shaking The Tree is one of Melbourne’s most vibrant and exciting choirs and a festival crowd favourite. Formed in 1999 and with two highly regarded CDs to their credit, the group achieves musical excellence without any sacrifice of heart, soul & good fun. Shaking The Tree has it’s roots firmly in Darebin’s inclusive arts culture and prides itself on being among the community choirs to reclaim the right of “ordinary” people, rather than just the gifted, to sing out. Thirty voices strong, the group is accompanied by skilled member-musicians on accordion, guitar, tsouras, whistle, ukelele and percussion.
Led by professional performer Bronwyn Calcutt, the choir sings her unique arrangements of gypsy, gospel, funk, and world music with a strong commitmente to themes of social justice and freedom. Shaking The Tree also sings some of the best singer-songwriters of our times, including Tim Minchin, Leonard Cohen, Ricky Lee Jones, Richard Thompson, Gurrumul, Midnight Oil and The Cure.
They produced their debut album ‘First Fruits’ in 2003. It featured a number of covers and versions of traditional songs. This was followed in 2007 by a second offering ‘Ripe’. The first three tracks, including a stunning version of Peter Gabriel and Youssou N’Dour’s Shaking The Tree, give listeners all the incentive they need to listen to the rest of the album. An interesting interpretation of Pink Floyd’s On The Turning Away sees it move from a sea shanty to a world anthem. Marian Lees’ powerful vocal solo on the traditional African American spiritual Freedom Road is moving and evocative. The traditional Italian song Magdalena is lively and authentic and the French Chanson du Pont is all class.
Their most recent album ‘Roots Grown Deep appeared in 2019. This album commemorates twenty remarkable years of Shaking the Tree choir 1999-2019. For this milestone they wrote the title song to express who they are and how they feel about their enduring and flourishing musical community. “Sunday morning… best day of the week. Choir is forming, my soul to keep. Familiar faces I’ve come to trust, Voices rising, the sound of us.
Performances of Shaking The Tree always inspire and uplift and they appear regularly at festivals and events around Australia. The choir’s combination of great sound, great moves and colourful, vivacious presentation have earned them accolades and invitations from many sources.
