Essential Information

Type Events and festivals
Location
Cutty Sark
Date and Times Saturday 23 November 2024 | 10am - 4.30pm
Prices Free with entry to ship

Cutty Sark's Sea Shanty Festival is back! Come and enjoy traditional maritime music in celebration of the tea clipper's 155th birthday. 

The event will feature the vocal talents of bands and artists from across the UK and beyond. Get ready for a day of fun and festivity.

Schedule

Time 'Tween deck Dry Dock 
10:30-11:00Shanty workshop with John The HogEye Men
11:15-11:45  Lucas Vale school and Poetry vs Colonialism
12:00-12:30The HogEye MenThe Gouri Choudhury Band 
12:45-13:15She Shanties Sonny Brazil 
13:30-14:00 Shanty workshop with The London Sea Shanty Collective 
14:15-14:45Sonny Brazil She Shanties 
15:00-15:30 The London Sea Shanty Collective 
15:45-16:15 Big sing along 

Meet the performers

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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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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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She Shanties

She Shanties is a captivating folk harmony group renowned for their enchanting performances that transport audiences to the maritime past. 

Hailing from across the north of England, this talented ensemble weaves together hauntingly beautiful shanties and folk melodies, celebrating the age-old tales of sailors, fishermen and adventurers.

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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 leading folk singer Martin Carthy as "The band we've been waiting for".

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Lucas Vale school and Poetry Vs Colonialism

Join students from Lucas Vale Primary in Deptford for a performance of a Bengali river racing song and some sea shanties that they have re-written to tell some of the stories of the Lascars. 

The pupils have worked with Poetry Vs Colonialism artists Gouri Choudhury and Laila Sumpton to learn and craft these songs of the river and sea. Get ready to haul, heave and sing along!

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The Gouri Choudhury Band

The Gouri Choudhury Band brings songs about the rivers of Bangladesh in Bengali and songs that explore the poetry of water. 

Accomplished musician Gouri Choudhury was born into a musical family in Sylhet, Bangladesh and first started performing when she was just six years old. She has performed all over the world as well as at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Barbican Centre. Gouri has thirty five years experience in the music industry singing a diverse range of genres including folk, Tagore's poetry and contemporary music.

What’s On

Cutty Sark Characters
Family fun

Cutty Sark Characters

Meet colourful characters from Cutty Sark’s past and hear astonishing stories about life at sea in the age of sail
Weekends and Fri-Mon in school holidays
Included with entry to Cutty Sark
Cutty Sark
Shipkeeping in action
Talks and tours

Shipkeeping in action

This is your chance to meet the team who care for and conserve Cutty Sark
Every Wednesday | 11am-3pm | Drop-in
Free for Cutty Sark ticket holders
Cutty Sark
Sea shanty singers
Family fun

Sea shanty singers

Join our resident sea shanty groups at Cutty Sark on the first weekend of every month as they sing traditional maritime songs
First weekend of every month
Included with entry to Cutty Sark: £20 Adult | £10 Child
Cutty Sark
70 years of Cutty Sark in Greenwich
Exhibitions

70 years of Cutty Sark in Greenwich

A new display explores how the ship made its final voyage to its Thames-side location
Open daily | 10am-5pm
Included with Cutty Sark entry
Cutty Sark
Talk: 70 years of Cutty Sark at Greenwich
Talks and tours

Talk: 70 years of Cutty Sark at Greenwich

Curators Louise Macfarlane and Hannah Stockton reveal how the ship came to its Thames-side location
Tuesday 10 December | 11am, 1pm and 3pm
Free with entry to the ship
Cutty Sark
In The Dark
Events and festivals | Museum Lates

In The Dark

This Burns Night, join us at Cutty Sark for a completely unique auditory experience in the dark
Saturday 25 January 2025 | 7.15pm and 9.15pm
£40 – General admission | £36 – Members
Cutty Sark
Cutty Sark Comedy
Events and festivals | Museum Lates

Cutty Sark Comedy

Join us in the Lower Hold of the famous tea clipper for a fantastic evening of stand-up comedy
Sunday 26 January 2025 | 6.30pm-8.30pm (Doors open at 6pm)
Adult: £20 | Members: £18
Cutty Sark

Images courtesy of the performers

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