Artists A-F

Jennifer Bell (12 string guitar/lute) and Wilson Walker (fiddle) have been playing folk clubs together for over 10 years, in and around Nottingham and further afield. Recently Dan Kittmer (oboe/bodhran) joined them and things have really taken off. Jennifer's original songs are heavily influenced by traditional folk song and early music, and many are about all things maritime, though she says she really doesn't like the seaside.... hence drowning being a recurrent theme, metaphorically and otherwise. It's all very beautiful.

Black Deep Shanty Crew is one of our amazing resident Shanty Crews, based in Harwich. There are around a million years of music making and shanty singing between them (nearly a true story). They have sung across the UK and beyond, love bringing lesser known songs to the party, sing international and local classics, and look out for guitar, melodeon, bones and whistles.

Castaway Crew is a Norfolk based, all-female a cappella shanty group, singing both traditional and modern songs about the sea. Most of the songs in their repertoire are hundreds of years old whilst some have been written by their crew. They were founded in 2024, and formed from like-minded friends who share a love of singing and having fun at the same time. 

Chris Roche has been singing shanties for probably more years than he cares to remember being a founder member of The Shanty Crew on the Cutty Sark back in 1973. He has a huge love for the sea and shanty tradition and an extensive knowledge of the subject but is certainly not just an armchair shantyman having sailed many times on tall ships and been around Cape Horn several times. 

With over 40 years’ combined experience of singing and playing, the four members of DAZZLE have performed at festivals, folk clubs and museums and aboard a variety of boats. Based in Kent and Essex and named after the DAZZLE camouflage used to disguise warships in World War Two their repertoire is wide ranging, from traditional shanties sung acappella to self penned songs with maritime themes. 

Dick has been entertaining at folk and maritime festivals for over 50 years. With a strong melodic voice combined with intricate concertina accompaniment he is one of the leading singers and concertina players of his generation. He has a new CD out called Down Memory Lane, which will be on sale over the Festival weekend. 

Since 2015 Dovercourt Ukulele Club have been building a comprehensive repertoire of songs for performing at local venues and homes. The membership has varied over the years and we presently have twenty players who enjoy entertaining whenever opportunities arise. One of our favourite events is of course the Harwich International Shanty Festival 

The FelixStowaways formed in 2014, after ‘skipper’ Norman, put an advert in the local free magazine seeking others who may be interested in starting a shanty band in Felixstowe. The rest, as they say, is history. The band sing shanties, sea songs and songs of the sea, a cappella, as they would have been sung on board ship. They perform at local events, charity gigs, festivals, carnivals and private functions.

Dave, Andy, John, Tony and Stephen all met as students at the London Nautical School. Several went on to work at sea and some have recently crewed together on the Sorlandet and the Statsraad Lehmkuhl. 

They borrow their motto from the London Nautical School, Tamesis suos ubique feret (The Thames shall carry her people everywhere).

Five Men Not Called Matt is an a cappella group based in Milton Keynes and Cornwall. The group has been singing together for 20 years, all members are singers in their own right and they come together to make a glorious, harmonious and powerful sound. They sing mainly shanties, as well as traditional and original songs of the sea, and their latest album is called, “Top in Their Field”.