Essential Information
| Type | Events and festivals |
|---|---|
| Location |
Cutty Sark
|
| Date and Times | Saturday 18 November 2023 | 10am - 4.30pm |
| Prices | Free with entry to ship |
Cutty Sark hosts its third Sea Shanty Festival!
In celebration of Cutty Sark's 154th birthday, bands from across the UK and beyond will unite in singing traditional maritime songs on board the iconic tea clipper.
Here's who will be performing:
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The Silver Darlings
The Silver Darlings are an all-female sea shanty crew hailing from Southend-on-Sea in Essex. They sing shanties, songs of the sea and ditties nautical. They love the storytelling aspect to shanty-singing and are passionately committed to ensuring that these songs remain in the public domain and are not lost at sea!
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The London Sea Shanty Collective
Recently returned from international shanty festivals in France and Germany, the London Sea Shanty Collective continues to keep shanties and songs of the sea alive and relevant to today, arranging traditional songs, sometimes with a modern twist, and expanding the repertoire with their own compositions.
They sing at festivals and in national institutions, pubs, clubs, care homes, churches, cathedrals and on barges and ships. Plus, most notably in the case of the magnificent Cutty Sark, they sing under them too!
As a non-auditioning community choir, they're open to all and made up of women and men of all ages from around the world who are committed to social justice, equality, and the joy of singing.
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The HogEye Men
With almost 20 years of experience as a group singing shanties and maritime songs to audiences around the country, including a monthly residency on Cutty Sark since 2019, The HogEye Men are respected as London's primary exponents of these unaccompanied working songs from a past age. The group blends strong voices and subtle harmonies to give audiences a taste of the true nature of the traditional shanty form, while also offering them a selection of more up-to-date tales of the sea.
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Swinging the Lead
Cutty Sark's resident sea shanty singers since 2011 will once again be on board to inform and entertain visitors in learning and appreciating the working songs of the tall ship era. All have sea-going experience, including sailing on tall ships and a keen interest in the sea and maritime matters.
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Pagoda arts
Our Guzheng and Erhu duet brings 2000-year-old music to a 21st-century audience. Since 2006, when Zi Lan started to teach Guzheng at the Pagoda, her students have performed at festivals and in music clubs around Liverpool, Warrington and North Wales. This performance will feature Fishermen Singing at Night - a traditional piece about fishermen returning home after a long day of work. You will also hear folk sea and river songs from various provinces of China.
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Sonny Brazil
Sonny Brazil is a folk singer and Squeeze Box player from the southeast of England. Raised in South East London and Brighton, Sonny dwells among the Bargee Traveller Community, living and playing music as they have for centuries on the inland waterways of England. Sonny lives entrenched in the world of English folk culture, working as a crew member on the Thames Sailing Barges and living on the canals; they are one of the founding members of the folk collective Goblin Band described by Martin Carthy as "The band we've been waiting for".
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Sailor knots
Do you know your knots, from Hitches and Bends to Bights and Loops? John, one of our Ship Explainers, will help you learn this key aspect of seafaring.
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Event schedule
(Timings may vary on the day)
Lower Hold
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10.30 - Swinging the Lead
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11.30 - Shanty workshop
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12.00 - HogEye Men
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12.45 - Sonny Brazil
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13.30 - Pagoda Arts
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14.15 - Silver Darlings
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15.00 - Sonny Brazil
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15.45 - Pagoda Arts
Dry Berth
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10.30 - HogEye Men
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11.15 - Dockworker performance
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12.00 - Swinging the Lead
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12.45 - Silver Darlings
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13.30 - Dockworker performance
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14:30 - St Joseph’s Singers and Plumcroft Voices Perform with Stretto Music
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15.15 - London Sea Shanty Collective
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15:45 - LSSC drop-in 20 minute workshop
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16:15 - Big singalong with all performers
What’s On
Choose your tickets
Cutty Sark
- Explore the main deck
- Walk beneath the ship
- See how the crew lived
- Family activities and interactives
- Guaranteed entry time
- Audio guide included
| Adult | £20 |
|---|---|
| Child | £10 |
Royal Museums Greenwich Day Pass
- Save 25% with combo ticket
- Cutty Sark
- Royal Observatory
- Guaranteed entry time
- Planetarium shows not included
| Adult | £30 |
|---|---|
| Child | £15 |
Become a Member
- Unlimited entry all year
- Royal Observatory
- Cutty Sark
- Planetarium Shows
- Special exhibitions
| Direct Debit | One-off |
|---|---|
| Individual: £50 | Individual: £60 |
| Family: from £60 | Family: from £70 |
Member tickets
- Unlimited free entry
- Priority booking and exclusive events
- Access using your membership card
| Membership card number required |
|---|