Shantykoor Blankenberge

The forty-person choir is led by a female conductor and is dressed in the typical sailor’s outfit of the fishermen on the Flemish coast. The choir is accompanied by three accordions, a large and small drum and a double bass.

Their repertoire consists of “shanties” which used to be sung on board the sailing ships and Flemish sea shanties that tell the story of the hard life on board the famous Iceland sailors on cod fishing.

Over the years, the “Shantykoor Blankenberge” has been a welcome guest and a permanent fixture at various maritime events at home and abroad. They sang at numerous fishing festivals along the Flemish coast, such as in Ostend at Anchor, Zeebrugge, Wenduine, Oostduinkerke, Nieuwpoort, Heist, as well as at the harbor festivals in Brussels, Sail Antwerp and the Tall Ships Race, the Gentse Feesten and of course in their own city Blankenberge.

They were asked to provide a lunchtime concert in the opera of Ghent and Antwerp. In the magazine of the friends of the Flemish Opera, the reviewer wrote the following about this : “The choir performed their repertoire with bravery and togetherness. These sailors followed their mermaid as if enchanted.”

The foreign performances are mainly located in the Netherlands and France, including the Shanty Festivals in Rotterdam, Vlaardingen, Sneek, Katwijk, Terneuzen, Zeist, Bergen op Zoom, Vlissingen, Stellendam, Boulogne, Calais, Etaples and Gravelines. In Paimpol (Brittany), the Shanty choir performed for three days during the prestigious “Festival du Chant de marin” and made the front page of the local newspaper.

The choir received the 2010 Culture Prize from the Municipal Cultural Council of the City of Blankenberge for their tireless efforts and spontaneous appearance.