Overview
Welcome to Ireland’s newest festival! This event will be held 26-28 June 2026. Join us for a weekend of local and international music by an incredible lineup of talented shanty and folk artists. There will be performances by 30+ singers and musicians from: Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Poland, Britany and beyond.
Hosting venues include:
Corner House Bar
The Inkwell Theatre
The Royal Cork Yacht Club
Gaelic Bar
Mabel Lane Bar
Stables Bar
Carrigaline Court Hotel
The Bandstand
Songs of Land and Sea
The event will be focused on traditional music of land and sea. Shanties are the work songs of the old days of tall sailing ships, the shantyman set the work pace in song and the crew responded in chorus, it maximized the effort and motivated the sailors as they worked. Forebitters were sea songs, not work songs, the songs the sailors sang when when they were not on their watch, whaling, drinking, broken token ballads, there are also the songs from the fishing trade. The other songs you can expect at the festival are the songs of the land, mining, historic, mid winter and other seasonal songs, including songs from rural traditions, wassailing, the Wren, piracy and highway robbers, love, railway songs and many more traditions. Many of the songs are sung in a capella style, small groups singing in tight harmonies and of course, some will be accompanied.
Welcome from the Festival Director
Welcome to our first International Maritime and Folk Festival. We are looking forward to welcoming all our performers from far and wide and also those visitors, who come from home and abroad, attracted by the opportunity to hear a variety of traditional songs and cultures.
As festival director, I know most of the performers personally and meet them every year at one festival or another. They are good entertainers and have a fantastic collection of traditional songs, stories, and tunes. They love their songs and the history that goes with them, from a wide background of maritime and land-based traditions. As I have been encouraging a capella singing in Carrigaline for the last year, the festival is leaning towards such performers who have a preference for singing in this style and within the traditional genre. There is nothing like the human voice in harmony and we have some excellent performers in this style. Our festival album, featuring many of the visiting performers, is being produced to promote the festival, ensure everyone will know what to expect and also help raise funds to finance the festival.
I have been asked if this means that the sessions will be Sean Nos orientated and the answer is no, definitely not. It is a different form of unaccompanied singing, Sean Nos being a solo performance of a song. However, it is probable, from past experience, that some open sessions may attract the occasional Sean Nos singer. Each session will be run by a regular festival singer, experienced in ensuring that our guest performers are given priority at the daily sessions, while allowing some participation from the casual visiting singers which is also a general feature of such festivals.
Like most festivals, our event is supported by volunteers who continue to help with the many activities and tasks that are required to ensure a successful festival. Including the landlords/Managers of the venues and those who look after everything from construction of this web site to printing, accommodation, transport, etc. The festival could not proceed without them.
I look forward to seeing you all there.
Mr. Pat Sheridan
Festival Director