Connecticut Sea Music Festival is this weekend!
Essex, CT – The first Connecticut Sea Music Festival will be held in Essex, CT on June 10 – 12, 2022. Free to the public (daytime events), the family friendly maritime music festival presents performers from a variety of musical traditions, steeped in the lore of the sea. With multiple venues including the historic Griswold Inn and the Connecticut River Museum, activities include a Family Stage, workshops, concerts, demonstrations of sailor skills, and a Symposium on the Music of the Sea. Evening concerts are ticketed. Parking is available in designated lots with free shuttles provided. The Festival is a project of the Maritime Music & Tradition Society Corp., a 501C3 nonprofit organization.
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Now hear this! On the weekend of June 10-12, the streets and rafters of historic downtown Essex, Connecticut will ring with sea chanteys, as the first Connecticut Sea Music Festival presents concerts, workshops, and demonstrations of traditional maritime skills.
The weekend begins with a Symposium on the Music of the Sea from 9-5 on Friday, in the Program Room of the Essex Public Library. Scholars and performers from all over the world will share their research into sea music past and present. This program will be livestreamed.
Performances kick off with an Evening Concert of traditional maritime music at 7 under the mainstage tent on the lower lawn of the Connecticut River Museum. On Saturday, music and workshops run from 10-5 at multiple venues throughout the town, with an Evening Concert at 7. Sunday morning begins at 9:30 with a traditional maritime hymn sing- revival style!- under the big tent, and continues with music and workshops from 11- 3. The Festival concludes with an all-in concert on Sunday afternoon.
The workshops on Saturday and Sunday are the Festival’s gift to the town of Essex, once a center of shipbuilding and river trade. Music and storytelling can be heard at the Gazebo on the Town Green, Ben Parkers Studio, and our Family stage, as well as under the tent at the Connecticut River Museum.
The Festival performers represent a variety of musical traditions. Instrumentalists and unaccompanied singers will raise their voices and invite spirited audience participation. Some 20 individual performers and groups represent several generations of traditional maritime music. Don Sineti, sea music personified, founded the Cetacean Society whose lobbying resulted in the sperm whale being designated Connecticut’s State Animal. Sineti’s booming bass voice can be heard leading chanteys and telling stories connecting the songs to environmental concerns. Vienna Carroll sings and tells the stories of Black Roots Music — the spirituals, work songs, and blues of her ancestors, music that was integral to their survival and carries their history She will share songs and stories of the Black Jacks, the maritime aspect of the Underground Railroad.
The Griswold Inn’s historic Tavern Room has been a beacon for sea music enthusiasts for decades, and their house band “The Jovial Crew,” featuring the legendary Cliff Haslam will perform at the Festival. After the Evening Concerts, the Gris offers open chantey sings in the Covered Bridge Room and a “Survivors Night” on Monday June 13 for those who can’t get enough sea music. The generosity of the Paul Foundation and the Griswold Inn helped make this Festival possible, along with sponsorship from CT Humanities.
For more information, and to purchase advance sale tickets, visit 2022 Festival – Connecticut Sea Music Festival (ctseamusicfest.org).
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