Beacon winter lectures series continues with song
Beacon Sloop Club Winter Lecture Series continues on Friday, March 15, with Dean Barnes and the Kingston Sea Shanty Singers.
The Beacon Sloop Club’s winter free lecture series is held on the third Friday of the month from January through May. The March program features local shanty-men Dean Barnes and The Kingston Sea Shanty Singers. They will celebrate the historic age of sail and industry along the river with chanteys, fo’c’s’le songs, river songs and songs of the open sea. Learn how these songs were used to ease work aboard ship.
Chanteys (pronounced Shanties) are working songs from the age of iron men and wooden ships. The songs were tailored to specific tasks, weighing anchor, hoisting sails or tacking. Typically led by the chanteyman and answered with a chorus by the crew they helped lighten the load and coordinate actions. Many chanteys, such as “Blow the Man Down,” which was originally a long-haul chantey of the Black Ball Line, have been turned into popular folk songs.
The Kingston Sea Chantey Singers is a project of Heritage Folk Music, Inc. While many chanteys are sung a cappella, the group has several musicians able to add accompaniment on guitar, banjo, concertina, harmonica and autoharp. The original group was organized in the 1980s and performed frequently at the Hudson River Maritime Museum.
This free event will be held on Friday, March 15, 7 p.m. at the Beacon Sloop Club, 2 Flynn Drive, Beacon (adjacent to the harbor). In the event of inclement weather, check the website at beaconsloopclub.org. For further information call, 845-463-4660 or 914-879-1082.
