Falmouth hosts 20th International Sea Shanty Festival
80 groups will perform in the largest free nautical music and song festival in Europe
Last updated 14th Jun 2024
The 20th year of the International Sea Shanty Festival, hosted in Falmouth, kicks off today.
The annual event starting today will have almost 80 groups performing across the weekend in the largest free nautical music and song festival in Europe.
For two decades, the port of Falmouth has played host to the award-winning festival which first started as a grassroots event in 2004 with five groups popping up around the town’s Custom House Quay to make their voices heard.
Today more than 50,000 visitors are expected to see over 80 sea shanty groups from all over the world come together to perform on stages, in cafes, pubs, hotels, and community venues, bringing the history, heritage and culture of maritime song to life in this vibrant Cornish port.
Jeremy Griffiths, singer in the Falmouth Shout, said: "It's such a friendly group of people. It's a really nice network of people and it's something nice to belong in. Sometimes work-life can be stressful so it's a good release as well.
"It's absolutely phenomenal, there's a number of people in the Shout and other related bands, who've put a tremendous amount of effort in when it started. The good thing is, the handful of bands have been singing to start the festival off."
Alongside the more traditional groups which are heavily male, today typically younger, LGBTQ+, female and international groups taking up sea shanty singing in their own way and style, bringing fresh interpretations to the tradition.
2024 also will involve 150 local schoolchildren from Falmouth and Cornwall who will be performing alongside a group all the way from Canada and Kessanyan – a three-part harmony group from Redruth.