A Hackney-based community choir is rewriting traditional folk lyrics for a modern audience.
The London Sea Shanty Collective claim to approach maritime songs with one eye to the tradition and the other to the future.
Member Philip Pearson explained: “As a folk tradition, there are those who believe that shanties must be sung pure, without harmony or changing lyrics.
“We sometimes introduce new wording for modern times, for there may be a lovely melody, but the lyrics may be too racist and sexist to sing.”
The great-grandson of Charlie Collins, who sailed on the HMS Challenger during its 1872-76 expedition, Pearson has always been involved in the sea shanty tradition.
Born and raised in Brighton, he is now an environmental campaigner for Greener Jobs Alliance and has written a book in memory of his late great-grandfather: A Challenger’s Song.
The collective call themselves the shamily (shanty-family) and say they use harmonies to get closer to the ramshackle queer space of a ship.
Previously, choir member Laila Sumpton has revised lyrics from ‘A Drop of Nelson’s Blood’ to pay tribute to the Lascar sailors and to decolonise traditional folk music.
The Lascars were South Asian, East Asian, and Yemeni sailors who made up at least a fifth of the British crew.
Sumpton is the co-founder of the arts and education organisation Poetry Vs Colonialism and helps young writers understand complex stories of empire through poetry.
Sumpton expressed: “We keep the tradition alive but in a way that aligns with our values, using our voices to make change.”
‘Doodle Let Me Go’ is another classic shanty but it contains racist language and refers to women in derogatory terms.
Instead, the Collective have completely changed the lyrics to instead tell a story of female empowerment.
They sing: “And now we sail the seven seas with not a man to show, / What matters is the job in hand, not what we’ve got below.”
Since the choir was founded in 2017, they’ve fundraised for UNHCR, the RNLI, and the Hackney Winter Shelter for the Homeless.
In the past two months, they have raised £6,000 for Doctor Without Borders (MSF) in Sudan and Palestine, with their concert at Dalston Curve Garden last Wednesday adding £1,800 to the pot.
MSF Communications Manager Amber Dowell said: “If you think about the total number of people who live in Scotland and Ireland, more people than that have been affected by the crisis in Sudan.
“The numbers are absolutely astronomical and no-one is talking about it.”
The performance featured ‘Sea Coal’, a shanty dedicated to the people of Gaza and Sudan left destitute by severe flooding and malnutrition.
Sumpton continued: “This year the number of people suffering in the world from extreme hunger grows twofold due to the wars in Gaza and Sudan.
“The need is so urgent right now and will be for decades to come.”
The choir is in the process of making an album and will also be performing at Harwich International Shanty Festival on Saturday 12th October.
Featured image: Mads Brown
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