Author: Allison

So that was 2023.

Somehow, we managed to squeak in a few live performances before the year ended, and it was quite heartening to hear us side-by-side again, and hear the audience joining in, too. Some of it was familiar, singing at the Vancouver Folk Song Society and Folk Music on the Beach at the Hollyburn Sailing Club. And some of it was quite new — being part of the quasi-historical entertainment at a 17th century “coffeehouse” at Simon Fraser University as students presented their projects over coffee and tarts.

We’re optimistic about the upcoming year and are already looking a couple of performance possibilities. I’m also remembering that a few days after taking photos of the first snowdrops in my neighbourhood, we were hit by snow.

And so it goes. Haul away for better weather and be grateful our route isn’t taking us around Cape Horn.

We’re finally getting out in public again! We were invited to perform at a Volunteer Appreciation Lunch in White Rock in May, and then in July, we went “overseas,” or at least on a ferry, to Gabriola Island for a shanty session with friends as part of the Island’s Cultivate festival. The performance was in honour of the late Bob Wyche, an Island boat builder, sailor, and shanty singer. That’s our friends Jon and Rika in the background.

We also had fun at a Volunteer Appreciation Lunch in White Rock, theme of “Pirates.” We’re flexible, switched around our set list, were impressed by their decorations, and hopefully impressed them with our delivery. But we spent our hard-earned doubloons eating fish and chips by the sea shore.

This doesn’t show the full crew, but certainly demonstrates our ability to adapt to the situation.

Like so much in our lives, shanty singing has moved online— listening to or watching old recordings, joining in a Zoom session from the privacy of your headphones where no one else can hear your amazing harmonies. We’re missing the live sessions with contributions from every corner of the room and January, in the post-Christmas doldrums, was “traditionally” the month we reserved the back room of the Tipper Restaurant and sang until closing time with anyone who could find the door.

It’s heartening to see this sudden online media interest in shanties, short snippets of favorite songs, built up layer by layer by strangers, resulting in wonderful and wild turns of arrangements. It’s great to see the enjoyment on the singers’ faces.

But it’s not quite the same without sharing a beer and/or a smile in real time, passing quick comments between the songs, and adjusting your musical contribution as you go – depending on who joins in, who takes what harmony line, who finds a new verse. And the laughter that grows from across the room.

And when the session is done, it’s done. It may live on in a few shaky camera recordings maybe, or recorded more carefully so we can play it again to listen critically, and see how we can improve – but we never go back to it. The live session, however, lives in our memory, getting better with each visit, and inspiring the next one.

When safe group singing is no longer a challenge, we look forward to meeting the latest batch of shanty enthusiasts IRL. And we’ll teach them the rest of the verses of “The Wellerman.”