On Sunday, October 10, from noon to 6PM, Bristol, England will host its first sea shanty festival with ten shanty crews performing on outdoor stages on the city’s harborside.
Classicalmusic.com reports that crews will perform in Brunel Square beside the iconic SS Great Britain; on The Matthew, a modern reconstruction of the original Matthew that sailed to Newfoundland in 1497; in Underfall Yard, a historic boatyard on Spike Island; and within the grounds of the SS Great Britain itself.
The festival has been organized in conjunction with the Docks Heritage Weekend as the brainchild of shanty group High & Dry. It comes after Bristol-based shanty group The Longest Johns were signed to Decca Records after the viral TikTok sea shanty trend and the success of their performances of shanties aboard the SS Great Britain.
Thanks to Irwin Bryan for contributing to this post.
WELCOME TO THE NEW BOYS AT BRISTOL:
HARWICH INTERNATIONAL SHANTY FESTIVAL
The UK’s Premier Shanty Festival – Celebrating the songs of the sea
See – https://harwichshantyfestival.co.uk/
Not the first Shanty Festival in Bristol by a very long way more of a reawakening, we The Shanty Crew the first regular shanty group in the UK visited to play at several such festivals during the 1980s on one occasion our representation of the sailor ceremony of `Crossing the line was filmed for HTV Harlech TV, I have personally had the pleasuer of both going throught the ceremony first when in EYE OF THE WIND 1997 and later when a more robust version was done aboard the barque EUROPA in 2015 when on my way to Cape Horn for the 2nd time this latter time I was the official photographer it was fiercely petrifying for some I have to say.
http://www.capehorners.org
Chris
I am sure that the “first Shanty festival” is less than accurate. Thanks for the catch.