Connecticut Sea Music Festival a success

August 2022

By Susan Cornell

Hear Ye! The streets and rafters of historic downtown Essex, Connecticut, rang with sea chanteys as the first Connecticut Sea Music Festival presented concerts, workshops, a Symposium on the “Music of the Sea” and demonstrations of sailor skills. But fear not should you suffer from FOMO. The outstanding and highly successful event, which took place the second weekend in June, will return on the second weekend in June 2023.

Throughout the three-day festival weekend, Essex Village was filled with song and scholarship on stages and in studios; onboard vessels and in a gazebo; in the town hall and the Connecticut River Museum; and in the Essex Library. The idea arose after Mystic Seaport Museum axed its Sea Music Festival, held annually since 1979. The nonprofit Maritime Music & Tradition Society, comprised of performers, scholars, and enthusiasts of music of the sea, was formed shortly thereafter and orchestrated this reinvented event. Mystic’s direction change is an enigma, as the 40-year festival had the reputation around the world of being the greatest festival of its kind.

Performers in Essex included local, regional, and touring acts like Celeste Bernardo, Marc Bernier, Judy Cook, Craig Edwards, John Roberts, Vienna Carrol, Jerry Bryant, Americana featuring Don Sineti, Bonnie Milner, and A.J. Wright. Also: Deidre and Sean Murtha, the Jovial Crew, Kate McCann, Geoff Kaufman, the Rum-Soaked Crooks, David Littlefield, the Royal Boys, Dick, and Carol Holdstock, the Dirty Blues Shirts, and more.

The weekend launched with a Symposium on the Music of the Sea in the Essex Public Library. Scholars and performers from all over the world shared their research into sea music, past and present. Presentations were both in-person as well as featured contributing international efforts, live-streamed to YouTube.

Performances kicked off with an evening concert of traditional maritime music, under the mainstage tent, on the lawn of the Connecticut River Museum on Friday night. The fife and drum Sailing Masters of 1812 paraded down Main Street on Saturday morning, followed by music and workshops at multiple venues throughout the town, and then an Evening Concert again on the Connecticut River Museum lawn. Sunday morning began with a traditional maritime hymn sing – revival style! This took place under the big tent and continued with music and workshops. The festival concluded with a concert on Sunday afternoon in which each performer presented one piece. All daytime events were free and family-friendly. The nighttime concerts were ticketed. The setting was picture-perfect, as Essex was once a thriving center of shipbuilding and shipping. Now the town is historical, completely quaint, and still “yachtical” (home to five yacht clubs!).

The festival performers represented a variety of musical traditions. They were great for all ages, from the youngest enthusiasts to the not-so-young, from sailors to landlubbers and teachers to history students. Several generations of traditional maritime music were represented by some 20 individual performers and groups.

Don Sineti, whose lobbying resulted in the sperm whale being designated Connecticut’s State Animal, led chanteys and told stories connecting the songs to environmental concerns. Vienna Carroll sang and told stories of Black Roots Music – the spirituals, work songs, and blues of her ancestors, music that was integral to their survival and carried their history. She shared songs and stories of the Black Jacks, the maritime aspect of the Underground Railroad.

The Connecticut River Museum hosted performances aboard its two vessels: RiverQuest, an eco-tour, and education vessel, and Onrust, the re-creation of the vessel Adriaen Block built in 1614.

With multiple events running simultaneously at various venues, it is impossible to know the exact number of attendees, but the estimated count is between 400 and 450. Generous support came from Geoffrey Paul, head of the charitable Paul Foundation and co-owner of the Griswold Inn, which has hosted sea chantey singalongs for half a century. Every Monday night at “The Gris” is still “Sea Chantey Night.” The Connecticut River Museum, the Connecticut Humanities Council, and the Town of Essex all deserve major thanks as well.

This volunteer effort was “All hands on deck” and one hundred percent a “chantey blast,” as they say. All the way to the post-fest “Survivor’s Night,” which took place at the Gris on the Monday night following.

“The merchants of downtown Essex were thrilled by the festival – one said it was the best weekend their business had ever seen,” said Dr. Faye Ringel, Maritime Music & Tradition Society founder, board member, and Director of Sea Music Symposium. “Everyone praised the behavior of the festival attendees. Many organizations and businesses have asked to be a part of any future festival,” she added.

Dr. Ringel states, “The Board of Maritime Music & Tradition Society is looking forward to a bigger and better festival and will meet soon to begin the planning process.” The enthusiasm at this first Sea Music Festival portends a lasting future for a group of musicians and music lovers who, a year ago, thought they would never celebrate together again.

As the chorus of the song written by singer, entertainer, and folk scholar Jerry Bryant about what was created over the past year goes, “We loved the Mystic Festival, but it came to an end. Now here in Essex, we can sing again.”

For more information on the second annual Connecticut Sea Music Festival, visit ctseamusicfest.org.

A resident of Essex, Conn., contributor Susan Cornell is an independently contracted writer, photographer, and marketing/public relations consultant who has written for Points East for nearly 20 years. She enjoys kayaking, sailing, hiking, travel and her dog, Bailey.

Nautical song an important tradition passed down through the generations

Why is it so important that these traditions and songs are passed down, and what can we do to ensure this happens for future generations?

According to Joseph Moreault, a longtime chantey musician and president of Maritime Music and Tradition Society:

As a research historian by avocation, I see this music partly as an obligation to those who passed it on before but also as a dialogue with them. A way of giving a voice to those who came before. These songs and tunes tap into an emotional vein for all of us in different ways.

It is music of the people, but most of it is an individual interpretation of traditional songs and melodies. And while the subject matter of some of these songs is dated and not shared by the public today, it’s about the song and the situation as we choose to infer from it; we don’t long to go whaling again, yet we sing songs about that. Many of us are not religious and yet think little of singing a good hymn from days before, if it’s a good song. There are songs of moments and events that are interesting to sing of from afar but that we wouldn’t want to be much closer to. Not unlike watching a good thriller, or something set in history, that’s fun to watch, yet we would prefer not to live with social expectations and the medical/hygiene practices of the day!

These songs are windows into social interactions, good and bad, and provide lessons in their own way. While there are other forms of folk music, this genre draws people from a love of maritime tradition – as well as old songs that tell a story or accompany activities in a way that other folk music doesn’t really seem to touch upon. It’s music from the common people of before to the common people of today; it’s largely participatory. Even if the song is a ballad and not meant to have a chorus/accompaniment, it is still communal and provides an almost “religious experience” in its own way for most of us. Certainly cathartic.

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