Tag: songs-of-the-sea

Songs from the Birdcage

by Lucy Simister, posted in Blog

As you may know from previous posts we play a lot of songs of the sea and shanties and similar nautical and marine related pieces on guitar, fiddle, mandolin and bodhran so it is really welcome to get any feedback from our audiences.

So – as you might imagine – I’m absolutely thrilled to say that we received the following testimonial from the organisers of the Pirates in the Port festival in Newport Gwent.

“An excellent duo with brilliant and varied musicianship. Charismatic, energetic and original they harmonise very well and really got the audience going. Highly recommended. Bois Y Bryn”.

We had a fantastic time over in Newport and if anyone reading our page lives near enough to Newport South Wales and sees an opportunity to listen to Bois y Brin Shanty crew – just go and do it – you won’t be disappointed. They are accomplished and entertaining! Check out their facebook page here!

On other ship and shanty related matters we will be playing at the Birdcage in Brixham for an afternoon of shanties and songs of the seas organised by Andy from the local and highly respected shanty crew Missin’ Tackle – there will be several of us performing but as yet I am waiting for confirmation who will be there – as I know I will post it on Facebook and on the website here.

And the Venue for this illustrious concert will be …

The Birdcage. Hence the title of the post. See what I did there?

SO here’s a link to the Birdcage pub in Brixham – which is a great little venue. I performed there in another shanty crew, the always entertaining The Marldon Wonky Donkeys -back in May and really love the atmosphere there – if your near come and say hello!

Course Laid In, sir!

by Lucy Simister, posted in Blog

What can I say about the Pirates in the Port Festival in Newport, Gwent?

The festival started with a convivial gathering at the Mercure Hotel in Newport with many pirates, shanty singers and similar ne’re-do-wells and they were in fine voice!

For the next two days the streets and bars were full of so many great singers and musicians enjoying the sessions as much as we did! Shanties and songs of the sea were the order of the day.

These Shanty and Pirate festivals attract people far and wide and we bumped into others friends from Devon! (Check out the Teignmouth Mermaid here! A real life singing mermaid…) And all prepared to make sometimes very long journeys just to join in with the fun!

We were down for performing on Saturday at two venues – the Mercure Hotel at 1200 hrs and then McCanns Rock N Ale bar at 1400 hrs. We did our thing there – and then we were offered the opportunity to play at the Corn Exchange – a great venue – and performed a set there at 1900 hrs to a near full house. The audience was made up of lovely fun people up for a party – and we had an absolute blast! They joined in with the choruses and the daft action songs with gusto! Our sincere thanks to them that the evening was so successful.

Where next, Sir?

So now we are looking ahead to our next adventures and there are a few in the offing.

On Sunday July 13th we will be playing a set of songs of the sea at the Exmouth Festival. The Festival runs from the 10th to the 13th July and will showcase songs of the sea in all their manifestations. Its a fun for all the family event – and ecologically sustainable as well! check out their website to read all about it here. Trust me, free and fantastic and definitely not to be missed.

We’ve a few other things on the horizon too and I’ll post more in due course when we have more details. In the meantime keep a bright lookout me hearties and speak soon! Take care

Tony

Piracy Pays!

by Lucy Simister, posted in Blog

Well, let me tell you, if you found yourself in Brixham during the early May bank holiday, you were in for a laugh! It’s like a comedy fest with sea air and scones—who knew holidaying could be this much fun?

And when I say it pays, I don’t mean we walked away with bags of gold or treasure maps, but let me tell you, we had a riot!

It is impossible to explain the Brixham Pirate Festival. Many tens of thousands of people descend on our little fishing town for three days of the celebrations. Pirates of every conceivable variety arrive – so many variations on a theme from Jack Sparrow to Blackbeard and everything in between – not to mention original piratical creations dreamt up in the minds of some very interesting people! Music resounded seemingly from every street – it was a fantastic affair that I for one will never forget. Roll on the Pirate Festival 2026!

In the middle of all the piratical mayhem we were very kindly welcomed on board the beautiful Vigilance – the last sailing to trawler in the port of Brixham. She was built in 1926 and my, she’s a beautiful craft.

When we were on board we filmed a video for my song of the same name. You can hear it here .

It was an emotional experience filming on board – the level of heritage craftsmanship that has gone into bring her back to her former glory is astonishing – and I should add almost literally boat loads of money!

Check out the Friends of the Vigilance website here.

So, as you can see we’ve been pretty busy and have a lots more adventures in the pipeline. I’ll post soon with more news

In the meantime, fellow hooligans, stay safe and take care.

Tony & Lucy