Harwich International Shanty Festival

The UK’s Premier Shanty Festival – celebrating the songs of the sea!  Our next festival is on 11-13 October 2024. If you like singing, drinking, sailing, pirates & boats.

Welcome to Harwich International Shanty Festival. With the renewal of interest in Shanties and Sea Songs, following the TikTok craze which overtook us all in Lockdown, we welcomed some new visitors to these pages as well as those who attended our 2021 to 2023 Festivals.

Over the Festival weekend the whole of the old seaport town of Harwich rang with the sound of lusty shanties, music emanating from pubs, boats, clubs and our many historic buildings. There are street theatre sketches, maritime crafts, pirates, barge trips, walks, talks and workshops on offer and the town fills with colour as visitors soak up the atmosphere created over this special weekend.

The port of Harwich has been an integral part of our Maritime History for several hundred years and this still continues today. From arriving and departing European and British royals to starving migrants thousands of people have passed through the port, the ship Mayflower has many strong links. The local Ale Houses became a popular venue for sailors both those “in Transit” and those for to whom Harwich was home. In the pre-media times the only entertainment was singing, and often a shantyman would maintain his onboard role on the shore and so the shanty singing movement evolved and remained with us so let’s keep it going!!

Recent events have highlighted some of the tales in sea music, and this applies especially to the first track the recent devastation on the island of Maui has evoked the thoughts of many sailors who could not wait to arrive and find a pretty girl waiting for the on the beautiful beaches. Lets hope this can happen again soon!