Celebrating Two Decades Of Maritime Melodies: The 20th Anniversary Of The Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival

For two decades, the port of Falmouth has played host to the International Sea Shanty Festival. The award-winning festival started back in 2004 as a grassroots event with a modest five groups popping up around the town’s Custom House Quay to make their voices heard.

Today it is the largest free nautical event in Europe and in 2024, more than 50,000 visitors are expected to see over 80 sea shanty groups from all over the world come together to perform on stages, in cafes, pubs, hotels, and community venues, bringing the history, heritage and culture of maritime song to life in this vibrant Cornish port.

It is safe to say that over the years, there has been an evolution of the tradition and a new wave of demographics that are adding a certain saltness. Alongside the more traditional groups which are heavily male, today there are ‘new world’, typically younger, LGBTQ+, female and international groups taking up sea shanty singing in their own way and style, bringing fresh interpretations to the tradition.

The organisers highlight the significant contribution from the main sponsors and partners, including The Greenbank Hotel, Seasalt Cornwall, Sharp’s Brewing Company, Falmouth Town Council, and event production partner, South West Bars and Events. Public relations support is via the Falmouth Business Improvement District (BID). Furthermore, none of this would be possible without the strong support from the local community, including volunteers working on the organising group. All have been pivotal in enhancing the quality and coordination of the event. Their contributions have enabled the festival to grow and thrive, becoming a cornerstone of Falmouth's cultural calendar and an essential driver of local economic activity.

The ever-growing success, and the volume of inbound staying national and international visitors, means that across the 2024 weekend there is very little overnight accommodation available either in Falmouth itself or in the towns and villages around the port.  The vital secondary economic benefits to the businesses in Falmouth, at these challenges times, are all the more appreciated right across the town.

Truly ‘glocal’, it has global reach but mass local impact. 2024 sees 150 local schoolchildren from Falmouth and Cornwall perform alongside a group all the way from Canada and Kessanyan – a three-part harmony group from Redruth. These just some of the newest additions to the line-up.

We are arranging interviews with representatives from the following bands. Please contact Sarah Harrington (details below) if interested in this:

BRISE-GLACE

The maritime folk band known as "Brise-Glace" hails all the way from Montreal, Quebec, Canada which is the group that has entered from furthest away this year.

Brise-Glace represents the fusion of two Bretons and two Quebecers, bringing together four distinct musical backgrounds that result in their performances being truly one-of-a-kind and enriched with diverse styles. The group’s roots and traditions are deeply embedded in Breton shanties and Quebec folk music. However, their influences extend far and wide, encompassing Cajun, American folk, Irish, Scottish, Eastern European, and even Pacific musical elements.

Brise-Glace’s performances are a vibrant mix of instruments, including the 5-string banjo, chromatic accordion guitars, washboard, foot rhythm, Bodhran, bones and spoons, all of which contribute to the storytelling aspect as much as the four-part harmonious vocals.

SEAWEED IN THE FRUIT LOCKER

The LGBTQIA+ sea shanty choir Seaweed in the Fruit Locker has talented Plymouth-based artist, Rhys Morgan at the helm. Inspired by his upbringing in a rural, coastal community, where he felt both excluded and deeply intrigued by the seafaring songs of his region, he decided to put a call out in 2022. He immediately received a strong response and now has a 15+ strong choir of wonderful queer choristers. 

The group’s repertoire consists of cleverly reworked sea shanties, using their shared collective life experiences to inspire new themes. The choir’s lyrics often illustrate historical challenges, exploring queer motifs within seafaring history, including new odes that cover contemporary LGBTQIA+ topics.

Founder Rhys said, “The sea doesn’t really have an identity in the same way as a geographical location, which makes it fertile ground for marginalised communities. Bringing a new lense to that has been really interesting – but even more interesting is uncovering queer conditions and narratives that already exist on the sea. There’s a utopic sense of queerness about the sea that might come from resistance against oppression. To take a traditional mechanism of sea shanty and bring something new to that folk tradition is an interesting challenge and maybe a bit overdue.”

Rhys continued, “The shanties that we’ve since written have explored our own lived experience, often incorporating elements of the queer subcultural language Polari, a form of slang commonly used by gay men in an era when homosexuality was illegal in England and Wales. We’re so thrilled to perform at Falmouth’s International Sea Shanty Festival and to be the first LGBTQIA+ group to do so. We have found that since bringing Seaweed in the Fruit Locker together, there has been a real excitement and demand for an opening up of folk music, exploring its traditions from new perspectives”.

RUM & SHRUB

Rum & Shrub is one of the original International Sea Shanty Festival groups. Firmly from Cornwall but with a worldwide reputation for lively singing of shanties, sea songs and folk songs, the group has been enthusiastically performing together since 1991. They have graced stages everywhere from the Eastern seaboard of the USA to many places in Western Europe as well as national TV work and many more local events. The name has been inspired by a well-known local drink reputed to have been enjoyed by smugglers!

KESSENYAN

Kessenyan is a very talented three-part harmony group made up of, Harry, Olly and Ruby, based in Redruth, Cornwall, singing sea shanties, sea songs and songs from the English/Irish/Scottish folk circuit. Kessenyan means harmony and it represents them perfectly.

Festival chair, Richard Gates said, “20 years on and there is a continual interest in sea shanty singing, evident by the flourishing of the event and its impact on Falmouth. We have worked really hard on the quality of the event whilst maintaining the initial community ethos and we believe this is why so many groups are keen to be involved. Year-on-year, the event is growing geographically and demographically. It is incredible to see the variation of groups that come through.”

Keven Ayres from the Sea Shanty Organising Committee. “The Sea Shanty Festival came from humble beginnings and has now grown into a full three-day event over recent years. The sheer number of groups wanting to be involved is a testament to how successful the festival is, which just keeps getting bigger and better year-on-year!”

For information on the festival including the detailed schedule, visit the website, www.falmouthseashanty.co.uk. In keeping with tradition, the event will continue to support and fundraise for the RNLI who are celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea this year.