We are not entirely sure why the sea shanty has caught the public’s imagination during the pandemic – ditto choral singing nuns – but following the phenomenal success of Nathan Evans’ version of a 19th century maritime folk song, we thought it was time we dredged up our vintage film on the Falmouth Shanty Festival.
A twenty-something postman from Scotland, Evans sparked (say the Guardian) a ‘viral shanty craze’ with his catchy rendition of the sea-faring Wellerman song posted on TikTok. Our film was first shown on the Guardian website back in 2011 – around the time that Cornish singers The Fisherman’s Friends were also hitting the big time with a round of salty old sea shanties. Fast forward ten years and 2021 has been unofficially declared the year of the sea shanty. And Falmouth’s festival is back on Saturday 19 June – this time as a virtual event (live on Facebook and Youtube). Check out the the website for info.
