Mystic Seaport’s Sea Music Festival Is A Celebration For All

The 32nd Annual Sea Music Festival at the Mystic Seaport kicked off Thursday night with a backdrop of lightning and booming thunder. The four-day symposium includes workshops, demonstrations throughout the and nightly concerts under the boat shed.

"This is the grandfather of all sea music festivals," said first-time attendee Mariah Clark. "It's a pleasure to hear so many talented artists in just a few days time." 

 The musicians and patrons come from all over the world to perform here.

“We have an international crowd,” Geoff Kaufman, director of the Sea Music Festival, said. “There are musicians and music listeners who travel here from San Francisco, New Zealand, Alaska, England and Chicago to name a few." 

On Thursday evening an enthusiastic crowd gathered to sing along to the mixture of traditional and contemporary songs. Participation is a strong part of the music festival. The tunes and lyrics are easy enough for a first grader to follow, but some of the bawdier ditties would make the popular top 40 music artists blush.

"These are the utilitarian songs of working men," said Denise Cannella of Mystic Shanty’s. "Work was set to the cadence and rhythms of the songs. Within the bounds of the song, you could insult the captain and say lewd comments, without fear of being accused of mutiny, or conduct unbefitting.”

The youngest attendees, sea pups in their own right, the Brown University group Arrr!!!, led the crowd with a rendition of "Old Maui.” They dazzled the crowd their with smooth harmonies, and charmed with their pirate attire.

Sea music is a subgenre of folk music.  It's filled with rounds and choruses and simple melodies that are catchy and easy for anyone to pick up and sing.

"It has many layers," said musician and music scholar, Rick Spenser. “There are themed songs: songs of whaling, inland waterways, Irish immigrants, songs of fishing, crime and punishment.” Spenser continued explaining that any country with a seafaring culture had its own unique sound and the songs were shared as merchant marines met in port or joined different ships.

The tradition of sharing a seafaring culture continues at the Mystic Seaport's Sea Music Festival. Many of the attendees, both musicians and audience members are people who love the sea. There’s the weekend sailor or someone like Roll & Go's, Charlie Ipcar, who grew up in Maine with family members in the commercial boat building business. 

"It's a rare opportunity," said Boston natives Bob Lahrman and Carol Pierson, who  come each year to listen to the music. "This is the only place where the music has an academic quality as well in the daily symposiums."

The 32nd Annual Sea Music Festival at Mystic Seaport continues through Sunday June 12.  For more information about the Sea Music Festival visit the seaport’s website http://www.mysticseaport.org/ or call 860.572.5302 or 888.973.2767. Better yet, plan on attending.