PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Once upon a time there was a song that tickled the fantasy of the Internet
When TikTok revived the humble sea chess
The views came quickly, fashion can last
Go, read about him go:
People are stuck at home, tormented, bored, crazy.
Sailors who felt the same way on long ocean voyages broke boredom with work songs called sea shanties.
So it only makes sense that shanties were completely researched with a moment of unprecedented popularity during the pandemic.
“Times are tough. If we can sing, it will help us get through, as sailors did on tall ships,” said Bennett Konesni of Belfast, Maine, who began singing sea shanties aboard a gulf in Penobscot Bay. and sings several times a week with the Mighty Work Song Community Chorus.
TikTok has helped maritime shanties rise into the mainstream.
The app has a duet function that allows people to create a 60-second song and then allows others to add their voices.
People started using this feature to record marine shanties, and shantying has quickly become commonplace since last month. The ShantyTok movement has even contributed to an interpretation by the longest Johns of “Wellerman”, centuries old, navigating the top 40 of the United Kingdom. Another version of Nathan Evans with a leading rhythm reached the 2nd place in the middle of the week.
The sudden popularity is not so hard to understand. After all, people want interaction during the pandemic, and shanties are group endeavors that don’t require excellent singing skills – although some of the TikToks are quite sophisticated and elaborate.
Times are tough. If we can sing, it will help us get through, as sailors did on tall ships.
–Bennett Konesni
Long live the running of the working song
To bring us a sense of joy and fun
One day, when the pandemic ends
We’ll go back to the office
Shipyards and sea songs are gathered in trend, but the real yards were working songs. The sailors of the past sang to pass the time and to coordinate their efforts in raising the sails and anchors and in equipping the bilge pumps.
In general, they consist of a refrain – in “Wellerman”, it is a ship loaded with “sugar, tea and rum” – easy to remember. There may be formal lyrics or participants may choose to ad-lib, along with others who will join the choir, said Matthew Baya, a radio show in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
The construction sites helped the sailors to defuse the tension and stay healthy in the midst of the cruelty of isolation and crowded spaces. Shanties sometimes involved benevolent insults to captains or shipping companies that hired them.
Voice chops are a bonus, but not a necessity.
“Not all sailors kept a perfect tone. They were not in this job because of their musical talent,” Baya said. “You’ll get some people who are really talented and some people who just have fun, but they may not get all the right grades.”
Many people sing sea shanties at local festivals in Mystic, Connecticut; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Plymouth, Massachusetts and other US port locations are delighted by the sudden attention. Shanties are even more popular in some parts of Europe.
“If people are having fun singing, they should be fine,” said Baya, one of the hosts of Saturday Morning Coffee House on WERU-FM in Blue Hill, Maine. His show often includes a splash or two.
Many workers are trapped inside and alone
A feeling of whim can throw them a bone
Because of this, the construction site trend has shone
So, sing, sing as you go
Shanties tend to be associated with England, which ruled the seas in the 18th and 19th centuries. But they are sung from Maine, where English settlers began a tradition of shipbuilding in Massachusetts, the home of the nation’s whale fleet, to Mobile Bay in Alabama, the Caribbean and around the world, Konesni said.
There are working songs like those sung by slaves harvesting crops in the south, miners digging underground pits and loggers cutting down trees in the forest, all of which are seeing renewed attention due to construction sites, said Konesni, who is the State Department’s cultural ambassador and carried out construction sites around the world.
The trend is refreshing in a world that has become accustomed to people singing on stage for a crowd, Konesni said.
Shanties are different because they are participatory. The audience is encouraged to sing loudly.
“It has a depth, history and cantability that many pop songs don’t have,” he said.
Geoff Kaufman, who made a living singing sea shanties and directed the Sea Music Festival at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, said he was amused and intrigued by his sudden fascination with shanties.
He loves the idea of a new generation raising their voices.
“I hope it will bring more young people to their feet,” he said.
Long live the running of the work song
To bring us a sense of joy and fun
One day, when the pandemic ends
We’ll go back to the office
Associatika Press writer Mallika Sen contributed to the Los Angeles report.
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