Sea shanties: Singing out with songs from Cork's maritime tradition
Eamonn Ó Ceallaigh is a singer and organiser of the sea shanty event at Cork Arts Theatre.
Singer, gaeilgeoir and primary school teacher, Eamonn Ó Ceallaigh, is collaborating with Cork’s Meitheal Mara, the community boatyard, in singing sea shanties with the people of Cork and Galicia.
You don’t have to be a salty old sea dog to belt out shanties at the Cork Arts Theatre where Amhráin na Mara (Songs of the Sea) takes place on January 28. The session is open to everyone that likes to sing - or just enjoys listening – at what is billed as ‘a sing-along voyage from Cork to Galicia.’
Lyrics of old songs and of a number of new compositions will be provided to the audience on the night.
Ó Ceallaigh, who rows with Cork’s currach club, Naomh Ógra Chorcaí, attended social occasions over the years at the club where he says he enjoyed the sound of sea shanties. He has also been on trips to Galicia in Spain with the rowing club.
Likening the region, north of Portugal, to Munster, Ó Ceallaigh says it has huge links to the sea and sea shanties are part of the culture. Some Cork-based Galicians will attend Amhráin na Mara. And part of Ó Ceallaigh’s musical mission is to facilitate free sing-along sessions that take place at Cork City Library on Thursday mornings.
Sea shanties enjoyed a revival in 2020 on the TikTok social media app when Scottish singer Nathan Evans uploaded a video of himself in singing songs such as 'The Wellerman', a 19th century New Zealand sea shanty about waiting for supplies of tea, sugar and rum, sent by Weller Brothers, an Australian whaling company.
'The Wellerman' is a song that Ó Ceallaigh loves singing.
“It’s about going out whaling. When I sing it, I remind people that the streets of Cork were lit in the late 1800s and the early 1900s with whale oil, before electricity.
"But Ireland didn’t have that much whaling as a lot of the whales were hunted out of the area and went over to the Pacific. The song tells of the eternal battle between the whaling ship and hunting down the whale, with no one winning at the end of it."
Young people may not be au fait with the sea shanty tradition but they know 'The Wellerman', thanks to the TikTok sensation.
“The song just clicked with people. It’s amazing that when young people first sing a sea shanty, it’s 'The Wellerman' rather than 'The Drunken Sailor', the most well-known sea shanty. Their reference point is different.
"It’s interesting to see young people adding their own twist to the songs. As part of my work, I try out different songs in schools. Kids really love singing 'The Wellerman'. You have songs in Irish as well such as 'Trasna na dTonnta' which is about coming home from having been far, far away.”
The lyrics of sea shanties are often adapted to suit the local area. Cork has a strong singing tradition. Sea shanties, specifically, have a rhythm to them that helped sailors with their work.
“If you’re hoisting a sail or doing something mundane on a ship, a sea shanty helps you along. A lot of people could make them up on the spot. Or they might make up a song about the captain, referring to him as the ‘old man.’ He was never named (because the sailors would typically complain about the captain in song).
"On ships, there would be a chanter who would lead the rhythm. Once steamships took over from sailing ships, there was less need for sea shanties because there wasn’t the same physical labour. But the singing culture is still there with people singing these songs now at social occasions.”
The other performers of sea songs, collaborating with Ó Ceallaigh, are Wike Schippers, Aisling Wharton, Aoife Conroy and Arin Harper.
Ó Ceallaigh hopes to sing as part of a traditional boat festival in Galicia in July. He has visited the area with his rowing club. He will bring songs of the sea to the Cork Harbour Festival from May 22-June 2 with a gig in the City Library and another gig to be arranged.
At the Cork Arts Theatre, some of the performers will go out into the audience to help them sing along. And Ó Ceallaigh will sing a couple of songs in Galego, the language of Galicia.
He says he is relatively new to the community of sea shanty singing. “But it’s a really enjoyable and easy way to enjoy singing,” Ó Ceallaigh enthuses.
- Amhráin na Mara (Songs of the Sea) takes place on January 28 at Cork Arts Theatre
