june 8-11 38th annual sea music festival at mystic seaport

TM 38th annual sea music at mystic seaport festival june 8-11, 2017 Thank you all for attending our 38th annual Sea Music Festival at Mystic Seaport! We have again gathered some of the foremost scholars and finest performers of maritime music from far and wide. These are the people who are keeping alive the power and richness of story and song from the seaborne trades of their diverse cultures that exemplify our shared human fascination with the sea. Music from Australia, France, England, and across the United States will fill the Museum this weekend. We’re glad you’re here to share in the fun and learning from this wondrous world of sea music. Geoff Kaufman

FESTIVAL STAFF BECOME A FRIEND OF THE FESTIVAL Director: Geoff Kaufman The Friends of the Festival is the leadership club for the Sea Music Festival. We invite you to join this dedicated group of individuals who, through their : Adviser & Department Supervisor generosity, ensure the well-being and future of the Sea Music Festival. Denise Kegler To learn more, call the Mystic Seaport Advancement Department at Planning Assistant: Bonnie Miller 860-572-5365 or e-mail [email protected] Symposium Chairmen: Erik Ingmundson & Craig Edwards Clipper Deane & Suzanne Hetric Philip Kuepper & Michael Symposium Moderator: Craig Edwards (Gifts of $1,000 & above Charlie Ipcar Meyer William & Vicky Kelsey Richard & Judy MacDonald Symposium Committees: individual, $2,500 family) Hilaire Leavitt Alan McArdle & Jinny Mason Selection: Craig Edwards, J. Revell Carr III, Mr. & Mrs. H. Lee Blumberg Bill Lehrman & Carol John Mazza Glenn Gordinier, Robert Walser Greg Bullough Pierson Tom Milke Mary Dansighani Organization: Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, David & Ann Loomis Joy & Dwon Miller Folk Music Society of NY Mandy MacDonald & Ed Bonnie Milner Erik Ingmundson, Geoff Kaufman, In Memory of Paul DiBlasi Obarowski Suzanne Mrozak Tom Van Winkle In Memory of Conni & Teresa McShane Barry O’Brien Children’s Stage Coordinator: Jesse Edwards Hans Koldewey Steven & Elizabeth Mezick Nancy Peraro Bob Walser Volunteer Coordinators: Meg Frost, Karen Baker Sarah L. Pollock Dave & Darbee Percival George & Louise Schmidt Kathy Peters Participant Hospitality: Ted Rupar Fred Seebeck Ron & Judy Peters Packet Bill & Norma Service Ernie Pigeon Sound Engineers: Marc Bernier, Dennis Cook (Gifts of $500-$999 individual, Edie Stern Barry Pinkowitz $1,000-$2,499 family) Sound Volunteers: Naomi Ingber & Kayla Seeger Kathleen Sturgis Piere Pureur Production & Design: Mystic Seaport Stan Denek & Lee Formicola Sheila Sylvan Kitsie Reeves & Joseph Phoebe & Vincent Dopulos Arthur & Susan Tobiason Morneault Tim Radford Roll & Go Win Reinhardt Mr. & Mrs. Richard Roy Peter & Elizabeth Sorensen Dory (Gifts up to $249) VOLUNTEERS Nancy K. Salter Jonathan Aibel & Julie Salty Dick & Sara Pfeena Karen Baker Fred Pierce Rohwein Stephen & Susan Sanfilippo Kelsey Baker Scott Redfield Schooner Lorraine Allen James Sherman (Gifts of $250-$499 Jamie Bishop John Rhoads Joy Bennett Thomas Shoesmith & Donna individual, $500-$999 family) Jann Campbell Tim Rowe Katrina Bercaw Mendell Anna Marie Cartagena Meg Roy Celeste Bernardo-Dunn Tom Brillat Carl & Meg Smith Gene Cartagena Rich Roy Claire Bessette & Dane Miller Alexis Clements Sheila Sosnowski Bob Constantine Brian Schiller Todd Brink Mr. & Mrs. Cournoyer Philip Sternberg Donna Goodspeed Chris Setari Robert Carlson John & Anne Cuyler Steven Taylor Bob Hansen Thomas Shoesmith Sarah Clinton Paula Daddio Mrs J.(Jacquie) L. Wadsworth Mike Kennedy Heidi Slaney Cynosure Stanley Dapkus In Memory of Wendy Wood Sue Latourette Carl Smith Kim Deveau Faith Davison Chapple Ginny Mason Meg Smith Mary Evans Vincent Dopulos Stephen C. White Alan McArdle Walter Wennberg Ron & Margaret Fournier Allan Fingeret Deborah Winograd & Clyde Paul Mercer Brian Woronick Brian Gill Stephen Ginsberg Tyndale Lynz Morahn Don & Sue Grant Anthony Giordano David Wittenberg Mary Morse David Jones Susan Kaczynski Alton & Christine Woodams Julie Moulton Janet Handford John Kudulis & Paula Amy Wood Andrea Penta Robert Hansen Thompson Allen & Janie Wolfe Chris Penta 1 schedule of events contents

See Map for Locations Symposium 3-4 Schedule & Presenters Thursday, June 8, 7 p.m. “Fitting Out” Concert” at the Boat Shed 32 Featuring: Bonnie & Dan Milner (MCs), Current MS Chantey Staff Workshop Grid 5 (Brien Bradley, Craig Edwards, Jesse Edwards, David Iler, Geoff Kaufman, Barry Keenan, Denise Kegler, Chris Koldewey, David Littlefield, Mystic Seaport 6 Bror Okerblom, Don Sineti, B. J. Whitehouse), Chantey Staff The Johnson Girls, Nordet, and The Vox Hunters

Friday, June 9, 8:30 a.m. - 3:15 p.m. Festival Performers 7-8 “Music of the Sea” Symposium, Part 1 Greenmanville Church 3 Workshops, 9-10 Moderator: Craig Edwards Demonstrations, & Special Events Friday, June 9, 7 p.m. “Unmooring” Concert at the Boat Shed 32 Featuring: Denise Kegler (MC), Atwater-Donnelly, Martin & Shan Graebe, Tom Lewis, Mustard’s Retreat, The Roaring 40s, The Vox Hunters, & Anayis Wright Chantey Office: Saturday, June 10, 8:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. 860.572.0711, ext. 5037 “Music of the Sea” Symposium, Part 2 Greenmanville Church 3 [email protected] Moderator: Craig Edwards www.mysticseaport.org/ seamusicfestival Saturday, June 10, 12 -5 p.m. Concerts, Workshops, & Demonstrations throughout the Museum

Saturday, June 10, 7 p.m. “Full Sail” Concert at the Boat Shed 32 Featuring: Geoff Kaufman (MC), Jerry Bryant, The Chanteens, Jeff Davis & Dave Ruch, The Johnson Girls, Larry Kaplan, Nordet, & Dick Swain

Sunday, June 11, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Concerts, Workshops, & Demonstrations throughout the Museum

Sunday, June 11, 3 - 6 p.m. Final Concert at the Boat Shed 32 Featuring: Laura Travis (MC) and a song each from All Performers

2 symposium schedule Co-sponsored by Williams College, the Williams-Mystic Program, the Maritime Studies Program of the University of Connecticut, and Mystic Seaport.

Friday, June 9

8:30 a.m. COFFEE AND MORNING REFRESHMENTS

9:00 a.m. Official Welcome

9:15 a.m. David Peloquin, Independent Scholar, “Counterpane to Coffin Life-Buoy: Lunar Symbolism and the Song of Creation in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick”

10:00 a.m. Don & Sue Brian, Independent Scholars, “Norfolk Island: On the Middle Ground”

10:45 a.m. MORNING BREAK

11:00 a.m. Mary Garvey, Independent Scholar, “Codfish In the Spring of the Year: Songs of Codfishing”

11:45 a.m. Marie Stepanova, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, “Sea Themes in Czech Songs”

12:30 p.m. LUNCH

1:45 p.m. Martin & Shan Graebe, Independent Scholars, “Brandy for the Parson: English Smugglers in Song and Story”

2:30 p.m. Stephen Nicholas Sanfilippo, Maine Maritime Academy, University of Maine at Machias, “‘Cruise of the Lapwing’: Recovering a 19th-Century Maine Schooner Fisherman’s Ballad”

Saturday, June 10

8:30 a.m. COFFEE AND MORNING REFRESHMENTS

9:00 a.m. Official Welcome

9:15 a.m. James Sherman, Machiasport Historical Society, “‘Where River Meets the Rail’: A Poem Becomes a Song Honoring Lumbering, River Driving, and Railroading on Maine’s Machias River”

10:00 a.m. Robert D. Madison, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, “A Trout in the Milk: Henry Thoreau and Tom Bowline”

10:30 MORNING BREAK

10:45 Panel Discussion: “Language, Power, and Memory in Historical Music Performance: Perspectives on Racist and Sexist Terms in Collected Chantey Texts” Panelists: Craig Edwards, Denise Kegler, Rhonda Rucker, Sparky Rucker, Anayis Wright

3 symposium presenters

Don and Sue Brian are indepen- of the American sailor. David has taught eral other museums. He plays in half a dozen dent scholars, researchers, educators, and meditation for more than twenty years, and bands, performs a variety of traditional styles musicians from Australia. They lived and he lectures on Herman Melville, Mysticism on several instruments, and tours interna- taught on Norfolk Island for five years and in American Literature, and Persian Ecstatic tionally. A past Assistant Director and Direc- have worked extensively for Norfolk Island Poetry. He is a teacher and consultant for tor of the Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival, Museum, conserving and researching docu- Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory. he currently serves as moderator for this ments and artifacts, both in the collection Symposium. and from recent archeological work. They Marie Stepanova is a Ph.D candidate in have presented on Norfolk Island’s whaling Philology at Charles University in Prague, Denise Kegler has had the privilege history and music at numerous institu- Czech Republic. Her varied background in of performing as a chanteyman at Mystic tions and venues, including the Australian Language, Communications, Film Studies, Seaport for the last ten years. Currently, she National Folk Festival. Journalism, and Pedagogy has taken her to holds the position of Performance and Gal- several parts of the U.S., Italy, Germany, lery Programs Supervisor through which she Mary Garvey has always loved maritime Croatia, and Scotland. She is currently has developed several innovative programs music. She says: “I grew up on the Columbia doing field work on the Slavonian/Bosnian for the Museum. Her new production “Hear River, where my father was a rural post- border. Us: Voices from the Past,” which explores man, so we used to go on drives to the most themes of gender and expectation, will debut beautiful places, deserted villages all built on Stephen Sanfilippo began studying this summer. As an undergrad, Denise stud- stilts . . . my father and his friend also had and performing historic songs of the sea ied music-education with a voice concentra- a salmon-smoking operation, so I visited during the early 1970s and has performed tion at Central Connecticut State University. the smokeries, canneries, and docks.” She as far afield as Prince Edward Island and St. has never worked as a fisherwoman, but has Vincent & the Grenadines. His wife Susan Sparky and Rhonda Rucker weave worked in fisheries research at the University and he were co-founders of the Long Island well-researched performances of African- of Newfoundland and the School of Fisher- (NY) Traditional Music Association in 1978 American and related traditions with Ameri- ies at the University of Washington. She is a and now perform regularly in Maine and on can history, traditional storytelling, and songwriter, advocate for other singers, and Long Island. Stephen is Assistant Professor humor. Recognized as premier presenters independent researcher and collector of for American Maritime History at Maine of historical American music, W.C. Handy songs of the fisheries. Maritime Academy and Assistant Professor Award and Grammy Award nominees Sparky for Maritime History and Culture for the and Rhonda have performed at the Kennedy Martin and Shan Graebe sing tra- University of Maine at Machias. Center in Washington D.C., the Smithson- ditional songs, mainly from the south of ian Folklife Festival, and the International England and, mostly, unaccompanied and in James Sherman is an independent Storytelling Center and Festival as well as on harmony. Many come from the Devonshire scholar and musician. His service in the NPR’s On Point, Prairie Home Companion, collector, Sabine Baring-Gould, on whose Coast Guard in the early 1970s and his Mountain Stage, and Morning Edition. work Martin is an authority. Martin’s book residence in Machias, Maine, for the past on Baring-Gould and his song collection fifteen years attest to his lifelong interest in Anayis Wright attended the Williams- will be published in the autumn of 2017. traditional maritime music. Jim served as Mystic Maritime Studies Program and Secretary of the Machiasport Historical Soci- took “chantey skills,” studying twice-weekly Robert D. Madison began his career in ety, performs at historical societies and folk with the Museum’s chanteymen. She has Literature of the Sea with Eric Schoonover at and maritime events, and teaches Folk Music performed at Tall Ships festivals in Fairport, University of Rhode Island and as a chantey and Guitar at Sunrise Senior College. OH, and Erie, PA, and has worked and sung interpreter at Mystic Seaport (no, he was chanteys aboard the U.S. brig Niagara. She NOT an informant for the Lomaxes). He PANELISTS leads shape note workshops at the New Eng- wrote his dissertation under Harrison Hay- land Folk Festival (NEFFA) and has assisted ford at Northwestern University and is the Craig Edwards is an ethnomusicologist, with singing schools at the New Bedford scholarly editor of many maritime works of independent scholar, music teacher, and Folk Festival. Anayis brings to the panel the fiction and nonfiction. professional musician. He has worked as a perspective of a young musician cultivating a staff musician at Mystic Seaport since 1984, repertoire through the lens of contemporary David Peloquin is an internationally- was a member of the Mystic Seaport-based social perspectives. known folk musician and independent chantey quartet Forebitter, and has designed scholar specializing in the historical inter- music installations and exhibits for Mystic pretation of the maritime songs and chanteys Seaport, the Ellis Island museum, and sev-

4 SATURDAY, JUNE 10 • SEA MUSIC FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE CHILDREN’S VILLAGE GREEN PERFORMANCE (Rain TOM CLAGETT SHIPBOARD GREENMANVILLE FISHTOWN STAGE 10 (Thomas Oyster STAGE 13 Sites) BOAT SHED 32 (Ropewalk 27 ) CHURCH 3 CHAPEL 45 (P.R. Mallory House 48 ) (Figureheads 5 ) Building 4 )

CHANTEYS AT WORK INLAND WATERS work song 12:00 WOMEN & THE SEA Chris Koldewey Brien Bradley traditions Sparky & Rhonda The Roaring Forties David Iler Mustard’s Retreat The Johnson Girls Rucker Don Sineti Denise Kegler Dick Swain Barry Keenan Anayis Wright Margaret Walters 12:30 Charles W. Morgan Larry Kaplan Nordet

Songs of SHIPWRECKS Martin & Shan Graebe CRIME & PLOWING SEA & Barry Keenan 1:00 Craig Edwards BLOOD RED FLAG Deirdre & Sean PUNISHMENT SHORE Jeff Davis & Joseph Conrad 29 Tom Lewis Murtha David Iler Atwater - Donnelly Dave Ruch David Littlefield The Roaring Forties Brien Bradley man overboard drill The Vox Hunters 1:30 Chris Koldewey Anayis Wright Geoff Kaufman Joseph Conrad 29

Brien Bradley & schedule 2:00 CHANTEYS AT WORK BALLADS CONTEMPORARY Bror Okerblom JACK IN LOVE

Jerry Bryant Aubrey Atwater Larry Kaplan Martin & Shan Sparky & Rhonda Tom Lewis Craig Edwards Mustard’s Retreat David Littlefield Graebe Rucker S.S. Chanteens Dick Swain Nordet The Johnson Girls 2:30 Joseph Conrad 29 Anayis Wright

SONGS OF FISHING & seining demo Don Sineti NORTHEAST Geoff Kaufman SONGS OF WHALES TRADITIONS 3:00 HUMOR & WHALING Jeff Davis & Jerry Bryant Atwater - Donnelly David Iler, Chris Koldewey David Littlefield Dave Ruch Mustard’s Retreat Tom Lewis The Vox Hunters Bror Okerblom Larry Kaplan Barry Keenan 3:30 The Roaring Forties Dick Swain L. A. Dunton Denise Kegler Craig Edwards

dANCE WORKSHOP working aloft demo David Iler saturday SONGS OF PROTEST Atwater - Donnelly 4:00 Charles W. Morgan Denise Kegler Brien Bradley TURNING THE TIDE Mustard’s Retreat Davis & Ruch Geoff Kaufman Sparky & Rhonda Nordet dogwatch Don Sineti Martin & Shan Rucker 4:30 The Vox Hunters Jerry Bryant, Barry Keenan Bror Okerblom Graebe (4:00 - 5:30) (4:00-5:30) (4:30 - 5:30) Charles W. Morgan

Sunday, JUNE 11 • SEA MUSIC FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE CHILDREN’S VILLAGE GREEN PERFORMANCE Rain TOM CLAGETT SHIPBOARD GREENMANVILLE FISHTOWN STAGE 10 (Thomas Oyster STAGE 13 Sites BOAT SHED 32 (Ropewalk 27 ) CHURCH 3 CHAPEL 45 (P.R. Mallory House 48 ) (Figureheads 5 ) Building 4 )

10:00 Sunday Morning Hymn Sing at Greenmanville Church - led by Elwood Donnelly and Deirdre Murtha

Songs of SHIPWRECKS Larry Kaplan APPALAHIAN SONGS 11:00 The Vox Hunters WOMEN & THE SEA Jesse Edwards W/SEA REFERENCE Joseph Conrad 29 CONTEMPORARY Martin & Shan Atwater - Donnelly Denise Kegler Graebe Davis & Ruch Mustard’s Retreat Tom Lewis The Johnson Girls Craig Edwards man overboard The Roaring Forties David Littlefield Sparky & Rhonda 11:30 drill Jerry Bryant Rucker Joseph Conrad 29

BALLADS round robin 12:00 HARD YAKKA: Martin & Shan The Vox Hunters CRIME & hosted by

schedule AUSTRALIAN Graebe PUNISHMENT Brien Bradley Nordet SONGS OF WORK Larry Kaplan David Littlefield Atwater - Donnelly David Iler The Roaring Forties Sparky & Rhonda Mustard’s Retreat 2017 MS Chantey Class Rucker Dick Swain 12:30 Joseph Conrad 29 Craig Edwards

THE PHANTOM SHIP 1:00 CHANTEYS AT WORK INLAND WATERS A musical telling of Dick Swain FO’C’S’LE SONGS Barry Keenan Jeff Davis & an event in Colonial Don Sineti w/ Jesse Edwards The Johnson Girls Denise Kegler Dave Ruch New England Steve Roys Chris Koldewey Bror Okerblom Tom Lewis & Tim Reilly Nordet 1:30 Charles W. Morgan Anayis Wright The S.S. Chanteens David Littlefield

sunday work song INSTRUMENTS FOO FOO BAND 2:00 CHANTEYS AT WORK SONGS OF WHALES BLOOD RED FLAG traditions AT SEA Jesse Edwards & Chris Koldewey & WHALING Martin & Shan Brien Bradley Atwater - Donnelly Bror Okerblom The Roaring Forties Tom Lewis David Iler Graebe Craig Edwards Jerry Bryant Children’s Parade Nordet Geoff Kaufman Dick Swain Sparky & Rhonda Tim Reilly leaves from Joseph Conrad 29 Don Sineti Anayis Wright 2:30 Rucker The Vox Hunters here at 2:45 5 meet our chantey staff

At Mystic Seaport’s Sea Music Festival, you chanteymen in 2012. He plays a variety of David Littlefieldhas been associated can see and hear songs at work throughout instruments, including guitar and ukulele. with Mystic Seaport’s music program since the day: at the halyard as sails are set on a Outside his work at the museum, Jesse is a 1980. He has performed and recorded with Danish training vessel, the Joseph Conrad, freelance photographer and videographer the musical group Forebitter over several de- while hauling a whaleboat to the davits of the and is currently creating video content for cades and spent fifteen summers performing last wooden whaleship, the Charles W. Morgan, the Williams-Mystic program. on the schooner Mystic Whaler. His musical and from the handspikes of the capstan as we compositions have been covered by groups raise a 2,000-pound lifeboat. These songs David Iler has been performing forecastle on both sides of the Atlantic, most recently are the working soundtrack of life at sea. songs, fore-bitters, and chanteys at Mystic by Fisherman’s Friends hailing from Corn- And the work is coordinated, as it was in the Seaport for the past ten years. He learns all wall, England. He has extensively researched past, by work songs known as chanteys. of his music by ear and prides himself on the history of the American whale fishery being self-taught on multiple instruments. with emphasis on the voyages and shipboard Chanteys were tools that were used in con- David can often be heard playing his tenor life of sailors aboard the Charles W. Morgan. junction with just about every type of ship- banjo or homemade dulcitar. He enjoys board labor, from furling a sail to hauling up singing traditional chanteys at the speed the Bror Okerblom started volunteering at an anchor, as well as related activities such as work was done. His favorite songs to perform Mystic Seaport when he turned 13, following hauling in fishing nets or rowing. At Mystic are menhaden chanteys and slow ballads that in the footsteps of his mother, grandmother, Seaport, we provide unparalleled access to deal with the human aspect of love and loss and great-grandmother. He discovered a the wide range of sailors’ music; the historic in the maritime world. love of music while working with the dem- context and technical understanding of onstration squad that inspired him to earn sailors’ skills and the history, cultural back- Geoff Kaufmaninitially came to Mystic undergraduate degrees in Music Education ground, and varied traditions of sea music Seaport to perform at the first Sea Music and Euphonium Performance at the Uni- are all carefully curated and presented by our Festival in 1980 with the quartet Stout from versity of Hartford’s Hartt School. When not demonstration squad and chantey staff. NYC. He returned to perform chantey du- singing folk music, he teaches concert band, ties on occasional weekends over the next music technology, percussion, and ukulele at Mystic Seaport’s chantey program was found- four years and was hired full-time in the the Interdistrict School for Arts and Com- ed in 1972 by one of the foremost scholars spring of 1984. Over the ensuing years, he munication in New London or the national of maritime music, Stuart Frank. Over the has been Foreman of the Chantey Program award-winning Fitch High School Marching last 45 years, this program has become the and Director of the Sea Music Festival for Band. He lives in Westbrook, CT, with his repository for an astounding collection of 23 of the 33 years, as well as touring with the girlfriend Aliza and their snake. sea music along with an understanding of quartet Forebitter and carrying on an active its uses and origins and its evolution as both career of solo performing across the U.S. Don Sineti, folksinger, songwriter, part- work and free time have changed on board and Europe. time chanteyman at historic Mystic Seaport ships. (with one of the most powerful voices on Barry Keenan began playing guitar at the Eastern Seaboard!), and long-neck, There is nowhere else in the world where 14 years old, quickly finding a love for many 5-string banjo picker, is also an award- you can experience the range of work and different styles of music. While attending winning marine mammal illustrator with a hear the accompanying chanteys as they the University of Connecticut, Barry applied number of prestigious exhibitions and books would have been used by sailors of the 19th for a job at Mystic Seaport and was put on to his credit. For more than twenty years, he and early 20th centuries. We are proud to the demonstration squad, where he climbed has combined his exhaustive knowledge of introduce the current members of the chan- aloft on the Charles W. Morgan to set sails. cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) tey program who maintain this tradition by Bolstered by an incredibly supportive team, with his boundless energy to deliver rousing bringing into the present these work songs Barry fell in love with all things Maritime. renditions of songs from the days of wooden of the past. Through all that he learned, it was the music ships and iron men, alongside his own that accompanied the work that drew his in- compositions dedicated to saving whales and Brien Bradly is a banjo and guitar player terest most of all. Luckily, he was given a shot the degraded marine environment. With a from Westerly, RI, with a particular inter- to be a chanteyman himself; he has now been booming voice and a hearty laugh, he shares est in early American music. He has been teaching this amazing art form to the general his music, his art, and his unrestrained love involved with the Mystic Seaport interpreta- public for a decade and hopes to continue to for the whale with audiences of all ages. tion program for five years, focusing on the teach for many years to come. relationship between traditional styles of BJ Whitehouse is a semi-retired music work and music in the world of maritime Denise Kegler has had the privilege teacher and choral director in Jamestown, industries. He is currently an undergraduate of performing as a chanteyman at Mystic RI. He teaches voice privately and has written student at Wesleyan University pursuing a Seaport for the last ten years. In that time, eight musicals for middle schools students bachelor’s degree in History with a focus on she has taken on a variety of duties at the over the years. He is an active folk musi- the history of science, industry, and global- Museum and is currently the Performance cian and folk dancer in the area. This is his ization in social and state formation over the and Gallery Programs Supervisor. Denise second year at Mystic Seaport. course of the 19th and 20th centuries. can also be heard as a performer and music director in theatrical productions around Craig Edwards has been singing at Connecticut and New England. She studied Mystic Seaport since 1985, and his musi- music-education at Central Connecticut cal career encompasses traditional roots State University and was a proud member of music from Appalachian fiddling, Blues, the University Singers. In her spare time, and Cajun to Swing and Zydeco. Adept on Denise is composing an original musical fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, and button (slowly). accordion, he teaches private lessons and has toured and recorded nationally and interna- Chris Koldeway was raised on the waters tionally. Craig plays with several groups in a of Long Island, where he began his endur- variety of roots music styles. He teaches tra- ing participation with the traditional folk ditional fiddle styles at Wesleyan University music that was presented there. He started and serves as moderator for the Sea Music work at Mystic Seaport with the chantey Festival Symposium. program sixteen years ago when he was able to put the chanteys he knew “back to work.” Jesse Edwards is a second-generation The people, resources, and historic integrity chanteyman, the son of Craig Edwards. Jesse of the Museum continue to be an inspira- learned to play and sing from his father. tion. He fulfilled lifelong ambitions when He has worked at Mystic Seaport since he he was able to sail two barques, Picton Castle was 13, first as a volunteer and later as a and Charles W. Morgan, and was honored to staff member, and joined the ranks of the chantey at sea on both.

6 festival performers

Atwater-Donnelly. Award-winning, and performer; he plays banjo, mandolin, heritage is obvious in his clear, strong voice, internationally-acclaimed duo, Aubrey guitar, bones, spoons, and jaw harp. evoking quiet sorrow for a fisherman lost Atwater and Elwood Donnelly present to the sea just as honestly as it powers out a delightful programs of traditional American Martin and Shan Graebe individu- chantey “to be heard above the gales.” The and Celtic folk songs and percussive dance. ally developed a love of English traditional connecting stories are as entertaining as the They blend gorgeous harmonies and play an music early in their lives. The discovery songs themselves. Tom accompanies himself array of instruments that include guitar, Ap- of previously unknown manuscripts from on button accordion and ukulele. But it’s palachian mountain dulcimer, mandolin, tin Sabine Baring-Gould in 1992 led to Martin’s that powerful vocal style and infectious hu- whistle, harmonica, banjo, and limberjack. passion (some say obsession!) for Baring- mor, that quality of entertaining, that keeps Other surprises include a thrilling interpre- Gould’s work. As a teenager, Shan’s grand- audiences coming back again and again. tation of freestyle Appalachian clog dancing. father gave her four books of folk songs that Winner of the inaugural “Trophée Stan Hu- Their performances are appealing to all ages. fueled her love of traditional song. Martin gill,” French fans dub Tom “The Springsteen With humor, audience participation, and a and Shan met in 2000 and began singing of Sea Chanteys,” whilst Living Tradition (UK) relaxed stage presence, Aubrey and Elwood together in 2003. Their repertoire includes writes, “Although I always knew he was good, explain the origins of the songs to give more songs from the south of England and is I was not quite prepared for HOW good.” relevance to the material. Married since mostly unaccompanied and in harmony. “[H]ighly infectious . . . I can’t help but be 1989, Aubrey and Elwood perform widely Many come from the Devonshire collec- caught up in the magic myself and add my in the U.S. and abroad, and their thirteen tor, Sabine Baring-Gould, on whose work own voice to the choruses”—Mike Regenst- recordings receive international airplay. Martin is an authority. Martin’s book on reif, Sing Out! Magazine. Baring-Gould and his song collection will be Jerry Bryant is a singer and indepen- published in autumn 2017. Mustard’s Retreat (Michael Hough dent folk scholar focused on curating great and David Tamulevich) met as short songs from the past five hundred years of The Johnson Girls have been a force on order cooks in Ann Arbor, MI, in 1974 and American, Irish, and British traditions. His the folk and maritime music scene for over soon discovered two mutual goals: to become repertoire includes hundreds of tradi- two decades as the leading all-women, a cap- professional performers/singer-songwriters tional and contemporary folk songs, with a pella maritime group in the world. Believing and to get out of the restaurant business. special emphasis on the musical artifacts of that sea chanteys and songs of the sea were They accomplished both within the next maritime culture. Accompanying himself on the first real “World Music,” Joy Bennett, 18 months and have not stopped perform- concertina, guitar, banjo, ukulele, and other Alison Kelley, Bonnie Milner, and Deirdre ing since. With roots in both traditional instruments, he presents old and new songs Murtha each bring a special influence to music and in the singer/songwriter world that open a window on the human experi- the group. Whether performing at packed of the 1960s, Michael and David are widely ence. Through his research, he is able to add international folk festivals, intimate venues, respected as songwriters, recording artists, historical insights to his performances. His or workshops or presenting school or library and performers. Born into a musical family, research has also provided him with subjects programs, The Johnson Girls remain true Michael grew up in Michigan and was the for making new songs in the spirit of the tra- to their mission of keeping chantey singing third of four siblings, all of whom played an dition. Featured on a number of recordings, and its history alive, bringing women’s voices instrument and sang, a major part of family Jerry has released two CDs of his own: The to the fore, and encouraging everyone to gatherings. David grew up in a musical family Ballad of Harbo and Samuelsen and Roast Beef of join in the revelry. Widely acclaimed for in Branford, CT. In high school he volun- Old England, a collection of traditional songs their powerhouse performances of rousing teered at the local student-run coffeehouse from the man-of-war days of the Royal Navy work songs, sensitive renderings of haunt- (named Bubbet, which eventually morphed that serves as a companion to the seafaring ing ballads and laments, and hair-raising into the still running Branford Folk Music novels of Patrick O’Brian. He also created harmonies, they sweep their audiences Society). Their songs run the gamut from the concertina soundtrack for the audiobook along in a tidal fervor. “The Johnson Girls, personal to goofy, from tales of the Great of Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea. chantey singers from America, took the place Lakes to Captain Kidd and Benedict Arnold. by storm . . . Those who thought a chantey The Chanteens have been performing singer had to be male, bearded, and with a Nordet’s launch began in early 1990 when sea songs aboard sailing vessels, in rowing beer gut needed to think again”—Cornwall three sailors formed the crew. Over time and dories, at schools and museums, and at the Guardian (UK). through stopovers and fortunes of the sea, Sea Music Festival for over a decade. The Nordet evolved into the current ideal crew program was started by advisor Paula Daddio Larry Kaplan’s songs are widely known of four. Their arrangements marry a capella years ago while on a sail-training trip aboard by audiences and musicians throughout the traditional and contemporary songs with the Victory Chimes in Maine. The unfamiliar world and include “Song for the Bowdoin,” working songs from diverse backgrounds songs taught to the students on that trip later “The Wreck of the Bayrupert,” “Old Zeb,” while retaining the distinctive qualities of all could be heard echoing in the hallways at “Song for Gale,” and many others. A multi- their sources. Nordet’s sailors (Francis Ar- school. The group has been as large in num- instrumentalist, he draws his inspiration zul, Philippe Falquerho, Pierre Guillemot, ber as fifteen and as few as six, but they never from the folk and maritime traditions. The Stuart McLellan, and Jean-Pierre Trillet) lack knowledge, enthusiasm, and undying late Sandy Paton referred to Larry as “one of are novice neither in the maritime domain, passion for the tradition of sea music. the best song-makers in the American folk nor in the musical domain: three worked song revival” and the roots music magazine in a shipyard and the fourth is a stringed- Jeff Davisand Dave Ruch appeared No Depression credits him with “some of the instrument maker. They use their voices with at the 34th Sea Music Festival as “The New most finely-crafted contemporary songs in virtuosity and play traditional instruments Boys of Old New York” with, not surprising- modern folk music . . . stunningly painted with great panache, having been singing ly, a repertoire of mostly New York-related portraits of life in the North Atlantic since their adolescent years in festivals along fare. There will be plenty of Long Island seaboard states from Martha’s Vineyard, Brittany’s coast as well as in Ireland by way of tunes and Erie Canal songs again this time Connecticut, and Vermont to northern the Netherlands. The group has represented around (2017 being the bicentennial of the coastal Maine.” Larry’s original songs are France several times, most notably in the first “dig”), but they’ll explore many other ballads: stories in song, primarily centered Netherlands during the International Shanty nooks and crannies of American traditional on themes of the sea and rivers and of the Festival for the 400th Anniversary of the music that relate to the lives of sailors, canal- people who make these their home. The Dutch East India Company. lers, boatmen, fiddlers, the lumber trade, charm of his songs is the beauty and humor and more. Jeff Davis is one of the nation’s he sees in the ordinary, the voice he gives to The Roaring Forties is a Sydney-based foremost performers, interpreters, and col- those who are often not heard. group renowned since 1988 for the powerful lectors of traditional American folk music impact they make singing unaccompanied and plays fiddle, banjo, mandocello, guitar, Tom Lewis, as an ex-submariner, knows folk songs. Their Australian maritime rep- spoons, jaw harp, and a few instruments the sea—from the bottom up! His repertoire, ertoire includes chanteys and songs collected hand-made by folk craftsmen. Dave is a from traditional chanteys to songs fash- from the oral tradition, songs embedded in Public Scholar for the New York Council for ioned out of his own seafaring background, ships’ logs, and some fascinating home- the Humanities, a writer for the Huffington recruits the audience for a voyage told by grown contemporary sea songs. They are Post, and a full-time musician, researcher, songs, reflective, dramatic, and humorous. Born in Northern Ireland, Tom’s Celtic CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

7 performers continued

FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Award, and their music is also included on voices, The Vox Hunters present an exciting the Grammy-nominated anthology, Singing repertoire of driving dance tunes blended strong individual singers who choose robust Through the Hard Times. with an unorthodox collection of interesting songs of real people, their lives, and their songs and musical varia. The Vox Hunters’ work. Whatever they are singing, choruses, Dick Swain, a long-time student and philosophy is that the search for good songs harmonies, and wit abound. The group performer of traditional music, sings and is endless and satisfyingly so. They note,“We is composed of Don Brian (authority on plays guitar, banjo, English concertina, but- don’t aim to fuse genres, push boundar- whaling in the southern oceans and Norfolk ton accordion, and more and loves learning ies, or redefine ‘folk music’—we simply sing Island history and singer of traditional and researching songs from the places he has songs we like to sing in exactly the way we like Australian songs), Margaret Walters (har- lived, including the Philadelphia region of to sing them. Our influences and inspira- mony singer par excellence, valued for her Pennsylvania, the Great Lakes Region, and tions are voices in the English, American, organizational skills and lack of a beard), Maine. His performances include mate- and Irish folk music realm, but we allow our Tom Hanson (prodigious collector of sea rial from conversations with traditional ears a long musical leash.” songs from far-flung places with a bass voice performers, field and commercial record- to die for), Chris Maltby (another won- ings, and historical research on the folklore Anayis Wright is a traditional folk derful harmony singer with a phenomenal of North America and the Anglo, Irish, and musician with a special interest in sea music memory and a social conscience), and Robin Scottish traditions. He was Director of the and shape note singing. She performs as a Connaughton (founding member, propo- CDSS Folk Music Week for four years and solo vocalist and plays cello and concertina. nent of traditional Irish-style chanteys, and has performed at the Luneburg Folk Har- She came to sea music early, from listening composer of fine songs, including “We Made bour, Kent State, Hiawatha, North Coast, to Stan Rogers and chantey compilations at a the Steel” with John Warner). TradMaD Camp, and other folk festivals. very young age to her first Sea Music Festival He sings on Helen Schneyer’s album Somber, at age 14. More recently, she attended the Sparky and Rhonda Rucker deliver Sacred & Silly and recorded soundtracks for Williams-Mystic Maritime Studies Program an uplifting presentation of toe-tapping a Public Television production about Ohio and took “chantey skills”– studying twice- songs spiced with humor, history, and tall Canals and a documentary on lumbering in weekly with the Museum’s chanteymen. tales. Their music includes a variety of the Maine woods. Dick has also set several Anayis has performed at Tall Ships festivals old-time blues, Appalachian music, slave poems to music including “The Old Figure- in Fairport, OH, and Erie, PA, and has songs, and spirituals as well as originals, and head Carver” (Hiram Cody), “Blood on the worked and sung chanteys aboard the U.S. they accompany themselves with fingerstyle Sails” (Phil and June Colclough), and “Spell brig Niagara. She has appeared multiple picking and bottleneck blues guitar, blues to Bring Lost Creatures Home” (Kath- times on WICN. With her family and harmonica, old-time banjo, piano, spoons, leen Raine), which have been recorded by Norumbega Harmony, she leads shape note and bones. The Ruckers also weave American Gordon Bok, Dave Weber & Anni Fentiman, workshops at the New England Folk Festival history, traditional storytelling, and humor Bob Walser, and others. (NEFFA) and has assisted with singing into their concerts, and they have been fea- schools at the New Bedford Folk Festival. tured tellers at the International Storytelling The Vox Hunters (Armand Aromin She continues to attend many events such Center and Festival. With over forty years and Benedict Gagliardi) are musi- as the Youth Traditional Song weekend, of performing, Sparky and Rhonda have cally bound by a shared love of traditional Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, and performed at the Kennedy Center in Wash- Irish music, which originally brought them TradMaD Camp in pursuit of expanding ington D.C. and the Smithsonian Folklife together, as well as an eclectic and ever- her repertoire. Festival as well as on NPR’s On Point, Prairie growing amalgam of songs both inside and Home Companion, Mountain Stage, and far outside the realm of “folk music.” With Morning Edition. Their recording, Treasures fiddle in hand as well as a couple of concer- & Tears, was nominated for a W.C. Handy tinas, a banjo, and a pair of complementary

8 workshops, demonstrations, and special events

Appalachian Songs with Sea Connections Crime & Punishment (Village Green, Saturday 1:00, (Performance Stage, Sunday 11:00) Performance Stage, Sunday 12:00) One way to track the migration of people in history is by looking Press gangs, shanghaiing, transportation, piracy, shipboard at folk songs sung in certain regions. Let’s explore the presence of discipline for misdeeds real or imagined: the sea trades were rugged seafaring songs and sea references in land-locked places such as and fraught with harsh treatment born of the shadowy nature of Appalachia and the Ozarks. Further, we start to observe interesting activities carried out at the edges of legal society. Juicy material for “oral corruptions” as the songs passed through the generations and songs depicting villainy and retribution. were sung by people who had likely never been on a boat or seen the sea! Dance Workshop (Boatshed, Saturday 4:00 - 5:30) This workshop will include demonstrations and instruction with Ballads (Greenmanville Church, Saturday 2:00, Sunday 12:00) Atwater-Donnelly, Brien Bradley, Jeff Davis & Dave Ruch, Nordet. The practice of telling stories through song thrived at sea and and the Vox Hunters with some step dancing from Laura Travis. among shore dwellers enthralled by the beauty and grace of ships and the wonders and terrors of the sea. Sailors sang ballads on Dogwatch! (Fo’c’s’le Songs) (Charles W. Morgan, Saturday many themes, nautical and otherwise, while ballads on nautical 4:30, Performance Stage, Sunday 1:00) themes were popular among people who never saw the ocean. Here is a chance to sample the variety of songs, other than chanteys, Come and lose yourself in this magical storytelling form. that sailors once sang for their own amusement. These songs speak of many experiences, both at sea and ashore, and help us appreciate Blood Red Flag: War at Sea the lives of seamen in ways that no history book can. (Performance Stage, Saturday 1:00, Greenmanville Church, Sunday 2:00) Foo Foo Band From the time of Vasco de Gama and Columbus to the end of (Children’s Stage at the Children’s Museum, Sunday 2:00) the Napoleonic Wars, life at sea often followed a military model. The Foo Foo band was the name for the impromptu music made by Any ship had to be ready to fight or outrun enemy naval vessels, sailors from anything that could make noise. We’ll have materials privateers, or pirates. When major naval engagements resumed ready, so come create instruments for the Children’s Parade to be towards the end of the 19th century, the age of fighting sail was over, held at 2:45. replaced by engine-powered iron and steel ships and submarines. These eras of naval warfare have been chronicled in song. Relive Hard Yakka: Australian Songs of Work the drama and terror of war at sea in this exciting workshop. (Village Green, Sunday 12:00) A glance at the Australian working song tradition—with a cast of Chanteys at Work (Charles W. Morgan, Saturday 12:00, characters including convicts, miners, mariners, shearers, and Sunday 1:00, Joseph Conrad, Saturday 2:00, Sunday 2:00) steelworkers at work and at play. Presented by the Roaring Forties. Mystic Seaport is one of the few places where one can hear sea chanteys in the appropriate context. This exciting event will show Humor (Village Green, Saturday 3:00) how chanteys are used in the strenuous work required to run As hard as the maritime trades might be, they could also generate sailing ships. Performers will work along with the Museum’s special a comic response. Come by for a taste of “the lighter side” of life demonstration squad. around the water.

Children’s Parade (Meet at Children’s Stage at the Mallory Instruments At Sea (Performance Stage, Sunday 2:00) Building, Sunday 2:45) A good musician was a valued shipmate in the age of sail, helping This moveable Foo Foo band will take music around the Museum sailors enliven any idle hours they might have and perhaps grounds. While we march, add your music to the lively sounds of performing for officers and passengers as well. Compact size and fife, drum, and other instruments played by festival performers. durability affected what instruments might come along, but come along they did, and you’ll here a fine collection of them here. Children’s Shows (Children’s Stage at the Mallory Building, Saturday 1:00-4:00, Sunday 12:00-2:00) Jack in Love (Performance Stage, Saturday 2:00) Some of our finest performers will combine music, stories, The sailor may have had a girl in every port but there was often participation, instrument-making, history, natural science, and that “someone special” to come back to after the voyage, whether FUN! This is the place for children who want to do more than sit his doxy or his true love—who might even be his wife. Many ballad and listen. sheets have been filled with their stories of romance, tragedy, deceit, and happiness. And the old singers loved to sing about Contemporary Sea Songs them, whether they lived by the sea or not. (Village Green, Saturday 2:00, Sunday 11:00 ) At a past festival, song collector and author William Main Northeast Traditions (Performance Stage, Saturday 3:00) Doerflinger went from workshop to workshop collecting Regions, and even cultures within one region, have unique ways of contemporary songs. Today’s contemporary songs may be expressing themselves. This year we explore the East Coast from tomorrow’s traditional and public domain music. This weekend Connecticut to Nova Scotia. you can hear some of the finest singers and writers of contemporary maritime songs anywhere.

9 workshops, demonstrations, and special events continued

Plowing Sea and Shore (Greenmanville Church, Saturday 1:00) Songs of Protest and Injustice The ocean and the fertile field often serve as metaphors for each (Performance Stage, Saturday 4:00) other. Legend has it that a prophetic old Nantucketer, gazing at a Throughout history song has provided a third-party (or -person) pod of whales swimming off the shore in the 1600s, murmured. voice for people affected by social, political, and religious injustice. “There are the fields our grandchildren will plow.” Sailors depicted Balladeer Louis Killen interpreted songs of hardship and the farmers as dull homebodies in their songs, but also writhed in complaint of sailors, miners, and factory workers swept up into a jealous agony at the thought that those same farmers could go current wrought by the British industrial revolution. Through song courting their girls while Jack Tar “plowed the raging main.” Songs Pete Seeger became a leading voice for those disenfranchised by the about sailors, farmers, courtship happy and unhappy, and related politics of war, obstructed civil rights, and unethical environmental topics will be heard in this workshop. practices. From “Sailors’ Rights and Free Trade” to “Hell No We Won’t Go,” this workshop will explore historic and contemporary The Phantom Ship (Greenmanville Church, Sunday 1:00) songs of protest and injustice. “A Musical Anthology of the Great Phantom Shippe of New Haven” performed by the Sound School Chanteens. After over a decade, Songs of Whales and Whaling Paula Daddio, in her last year as advisor of the S S Chanteens, (Greenmanville Church, Saturday 3:00, Village Green, has put together a combination of source documents presented Sunday 2:00) in narrative form with song to tell the story of the” Great Shippe” Whalemen chronicled their lives, loves, work, play, and dreams built in the 1600s. The New Haven colonists hoped the building thoroughly in song and wrote down much of this material in of this ship would help them to become prosperous in commercial journals and diaries. You’ll hear their ballads, chanteys, and songs trade with Mother England. The story unfolds in tragedy as the ship here, but with changing times and sensibilities, the whales have leaves New Haven harbor never to return. This production gained a voice as well. Be listening. of story and song is one interpretation of what became of the “Great Shippe.” Sunday Morning Hymn Sing (Greenmanville Church, Sunday 10:00) Round Robin ( Joseph Conrad, Sunday 12:00) A favorite event for early risers on Sunday. Led this year by Elwood The S. S. Chanteens with Brien Bradley, David Iler, and this Donnelly and Deirdre Murtha. Spring’s Mystic Seaport Chantey Class lead a spirited sing-around of chanteys. Turning the Tide (Village Green, Saturday 4:00) Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea With the passing of the Paris Agreement, it appears that an ( Joseph Conrad, Saturday 1:00, Sunday 11:00) understanding of climate change has gained worldwide popular “The stormy winds do blow.” Storms at sea have gripped the human recognition. Nowhere can the effects of climate change be seen imagination from our earliest days of venturing upon the water more visibly than in the oceans of the world with the bleaching of and have generated some of our finest sea songs and poetry. We’ll coral reefs and the encroachment of rising sea level upon island explore the turbulent side of that “wine dark sea” in collaboration populations and coastal communities. Serious goals were set in with a man overboard drill by the Mystic Seaport special Paris, but can we, or will we, achieve them? Come listen to music demonstration squad. and discussion by some performers who have been thinking and singing about this for quite a while. Songs of Fishing and Seining Demonstration ( L.A. Dunton, Saturday 3:00) Women and the Sea America’s greatest fishing port of the 19th century, Gloucester, (Greenmanville Church, Saturday 12:00, Sunday 11:00) MA, sometimes lost more than 200 men a year in the fisheries. Nowadays women can be found in every imaginable role in the Fishing still has one of the highest death rates of any occupation maritime world, from deckhand to captain. Women also went in the U.S. The songs of this trade commemorate the courage and to sea in earlier times in a variety of ways—as wives of whaling and grief of fishing communities, while also showing flashes of the wry merchant captains, as passengers, disguised as men serving humor and matter-of-fact attitude that often sustained them. As as foremast hands, and even as pirates. On shore, women held part of this workshop, you’ll get to hear a couple of seining songs, families, businesses, and communities together while their rhythmic songs used by fishermen to haul nets for schools of fish, as husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons were at sea for weeks, members of our Mystic Seaport chantey staff perform them in months, or years. These roles were all commemorated in song. an on-the-water demonstration. Come and hear a sampling of women’s views of the sea.

Songs of Inland Waters Work Song Traditions (Village Green, Saturday 12:00, Sunday 1:00) (Performance Stage, Saturday 12:00, Fishtown Chapel, An important part of our maritime history has taken place and still Sunday 2:00) occurs on our rivers, canals, and lakes. A rich canon of music and Chanteys are perhaps the most widely-known and best-documented verse has come from our inland water trades. You’ll hear a fine examples of the ancient practice of singing at work. The tradition sampling in these sessions. of chanteying sprang from earlier worksong forms and influenced others as changing technology gave rise to new occupations. Explore some of these fascinating connections with us in this session.

10 The sea music festival would like to thank Williams-Mystic for their generous support of this year’s program.