Modern Maritime Music

In response to a recent inquiry on Reddit’s /sea shanty group for “modern sea shanties” I tried to post this reply. The Reddit server wouldn’t allow it, perhaps because of the table at the bottom. So, I am making it available here on my personal blog.

This might help you discover what you’re looking for. If you start getting into any hobby, whether it is working on cars or sailing or liking a certain kind of music it helps immeasurably to learn the terms. Not all songs about the sea are “sea shanties”. “Shanty” does not mean “song” in general: it refers to a certain kind of song that was used as a rhythmic device to keep sailors working on tall ships working in rhythm together. Most of the documented sea shanties that we have access to in today’s world were written down by musicologists with varying amounts of actual maritime experience, so there are variations on what you’ll read from different authors. Maritime music in general, such as what you’ll hear at any given maritime music festival, will largely be maritime-themed songs, not sea shanties. But these festivals are all celebrating the legacy and history of the human interaction with life on the sea. There are many books on the subject and you will probably enjoy discovering this source material. But, the fact is that it is easier to say “shanty” than “sea song” or “maritime song”, which is why so many festivals and events use the term. It has become a shorthand to reference the maritime music genre, but it is really a misnomer. For instance, less than half of the music on the official Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag soundtrack are sea shanties.

So, most of the “new” songs that you’ll hear at a “sea shanty festival” are not really sea shanties, but maritime-themed songs. Well, with the exception of one song that was deliberately written with a tempo that would suit a pump shanty, and it is called, unsurprisingly, “Pump Shanty”, by Tony Goodenough, formerly of the London Shanty Crew. I think it is fair to say that there are innumerable, new, maritime-themed songs out there, as each group strives to make its mark on the genre by having a piece that is so good that other musical acts want to also perform the song.

This list is a small fraction of the “modern” maritime songs out there.