Overview
The Cobh Maritime Song Festival was the brainchild of Sirius Arts Centre’s former arts administrator, Ted Creedon. Launched in June 2000, it was born out of discussions between Ted Creedon and Cork singer/songwriter, Jimmy Crowley.
Organised as a low-key three-day event, the festival ran until around 2008, after which its organisers appear to have developed alternative events such as the Cobh People’s Regatta, (most recently 16-18 August 2024) and the Cork Harbour Festival (Running from 2015 to this year, 1-10 June 2024) with these incorporating a wide range of diverse activities and entertainments, with a lesser focus on sea shanties. The only sea song and shanty group said to have been performing there in 2024 was the local “buoy band”, The Molgoggers.
Note: Cobh (pronounced “cove”, a galicisation of the English word, was called “Queenstown” until 1920) is to be found near Cork harbour in South-East Eire.