PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Once upon a time there was a tune that sparked the imagination of the Internet
When TikTok revived the humble sea slip
The views came quickly, the craze could last
Go, read about it:
People are stuck at home, toiling, getting bored, going crazy.
Packed sailors who felt the same way on long ocean voyages broke out the dullness with work songs called sea panties.
It makes sense, then, that the shanties have come full circle with a moment of unprecedented popularity during the pandemic.
“Times are tough. If we can sing it helps us get through it, just like sailors did on the big ships,” said Bennett Konesni of Belfast, Maine, who began singing naval battle aboard a schooner in Penobscot Bay. and performs several times a week with the Mighty Work Song Community Chorus.
TikTok helped sea shanties penetrate the mainstream.
The app has a duet feature that allows people to create a 60 second song and then others can add their voice.
People started using the feature to record sea shanties, and since last month, shantying quickly became a mainstream thing. The ShantyTok movement even contributed to the Longest Johns’ rendition of the age-old “Wellerman” who sailed to the UK’s Top 40. Another version of Nathan Evans with a driving beat hit number 2 by mid-week.
Its sudden popularity is not that difficult to fathom. After all, people crave interaction during the pandemic, and shanties are group efforts that don’t require great singing skills – although some TikToks are quite advanced and comprehensive.
Times are tough. If we can sing, it helps us get through it, just like sailors did on the big ships.
–Bennett Konesni
Long live the work song
To give us a feeling of happiness and joy
One day when the pandemic is over
We’re going back to the office
Shanties and sea songs are lumped together in the trend, but real shanties were work songs. Sailors of yesteryear sang to pass the time and coordinate their efforts in hoisting sails and anchors and manning the bilge pumps.
They usually consist of a chorus – “Wellerman” is about a ship loaded with “sugar, tea and rum” – that is easy to remember. There may be formal lyrics, or contestants may choose to use ad-lib while others join in on the chorus, said Matthew Baya, a radio show host from Williamstown, Massachusetts.
The shanties helped mariners ease tension and stay healthy amid the cruelty of isolation and cramped quarters. Shanties sometimes involved benign insults at skippers or the shipping companies that employed them.
Vocal chops are a bonus, but not a necessity.
“Not all sailors kept the perfect pitch. They weren’t in that job because of their musical talent,” said Baya. “You get some people who are really talented, and other people who are just having fun, but maybe not getting all the right notes.”
Lots of people singing sea shanties at local festivals in Mystic, Connecticut; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Plymouth, Massachusetts and other seaport locations in the US are excited about the sudden attention. Shanties are even more popular in some parts of Europe.
“If people have fun singing, it should be good,” said Baya, one of the hosts of the Saturday Morning Coffee House at WERU-FM in Blue Hill, Maine. His show often includes a pair of panties.
Many workers are trapped inside and alone
A sense of whimsy can throw them a bone
As a result, the shanty trend has shone
So sing, sing while you go
Shanties are mostly associated with England, which ruled the seas in the 18th and 19th centuries. But they are sung from Maine, where English settlers started a shipbuilding tradition, to Massachusetts, home to the country’s whaling fleet, to Alabama’s Mobile Bay, the Caribbean, and around the world, Konesni said.
They’re work songs like those sung by enslaved people harvesting crops in the south, miners chopping deep underground, and lumberjacks chopping trees in the forest, all of which are getting renewed attention thanks to shanties, said Konesni, who is a cultural ambassador. is for the State Department and has performed shanties all over the world.
The trend is refreshing in a world that has become accustomed to people performing on stage in front of an audience, Konesni said.
Shanties are different because they are participatory. The audience is encouraged to sing along loudly.
“It has a depth, history and singularity that a lot of pop songs don’t have,” he said.
Geoff Kaufman, who made a living singing shanties and leading the Sea Music Festival at Connecticut’s Mystic Seaport, said he was amused and intrigued by the sudden fascination with shanties.
He likes the idea of a new generation raising their voices.
“I hope it brings more young people into the fold,” he said.
Long live the work song
To give us a feeling of happiness and joy
One day when the pandemic is over
We’re going back to the office
Mallika Sen, Associated Press author, contributed to this report from Los Angeles.
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