Access Folk: Folk Singing Symposium

“It’s not proper music”: Changing attitudes towards shanty performance over the last fifty years

The influence of the second wave folk revival on folk music during the latter half of the twentieth century has been well-documented by scholars exploring the key individuals associated with the revival of folk music in Britain, such as Ewan MacColl, Bert Lloyd and Alan Lomax, as well as the rise of the folk club during this time as the “powerhouse” behind the revival movement. Shanty singing, however, appears to have occupied an unusual position on the folk club and festival scene – never fully accepted by either traditional or contemporary groups. Those who used to sing shanties during the 1970s and ‘80s often felt that they were looked down on by folk musicians whose repertoire tended towards the balladry and rural folk music that is more commonly associated with the genre, eventually leading to tension…