We are delighted to welcome Slow Loris back to the Festival again (2018). Always extremely popular in our music venues, Slow Loris will also be performing the Friday night show on board Sailing Barge Victor. Full details in our programme. Don’t miss them.

Back to entertain us again, Gideon and Nigel will be making the long trek from the West Country to sing songs of the sea, both Cornish and otherwise. Kernow Buoys are one of our most popular acts. Watch them at one of their many appearances and you’ll find out why.

Roaring Trowmen were a huge success at last year’s Harwich Shanty Festival and have been making waves at other festivals and events throughout the U.K. so we had to have them back. They mix musical excellence with on stage humour and personality and are an act not to be missed.

Burning Glass are well-known local multi-instrumentalists Mick & Penny Verrier, accompanied by family and friends.

Billy & Kathleen are returning after an absence of a few years in order to enchant further audiences with amazing stories and to deliver a variety of workshops connected to our signalling theme for 2015. Be sure to attend the instructional Morse Code workshop, which will also help you to train your mind and listen out for Kathleen’s beguiling singing and artistry.

Brasy, from Poland, were such a huge hit at our 2014 festival that we couldn’t not have them back! Superb musicians, soaring harmonies and wonderful entertainers. Don’t miss them this year.

Singing Shanties in as authentic a manner as possible, Crossjack come from Oldenburg in the North of Germany. They always sing acapella in the manner of the shantymen of old and mix pure entertainment with plenty of background knowledge during their performances.

From Enkhuizen in the Netherlands these five singers  perform mainly Dutch and English Shanties, mostly acapella but occasionally accompanied by guitar, melodeon, concertina and bones. One of their members, Hans Weehuizen, will be running Bones Workshops during the weekend so pop along to find out how to play these traditional rhythm accompaniments.

Three voices (Liz Randall, Roger Resch and Derek Seed) sing all manner of sea songs to accordion, whistle, concertina & autoharp, with plenty of choruses. At the Harwich Shanty Festival Liz will once again be running her popular “Singing in Public” workshops.

Fresh from his triumphs at the Albert Hall for Remembrance Services, Jim, who is a regular at the Festival, will be hosting a special show with wartime reminiscences, interspersed with songs, some self penned. During the 2nd World War, Jim worked on the Rescue Tugs, which were based at Harwich and has previously hosted film shows about the Tug Service’s work.

Kaap Hoorn are old friends of ours and we are very pleased to be able to welcome them to the Harwich International Shanty Festival for the first time. 2015 sees them celebrating their 20th Anniversary and the trip to Harwich is part of their celebrations. The 30 strong choir sing in mainly 3 part harmony, accompanied by accordion, mandolin, guitar and violin. The choir come from the town of Hoorn in the Netherlands and of course the famous Cape Horn was named in 1616 by a Dutch explorer from their home town.

We are very pleased that Keith has been able to step into the breach and help us out at such short notice, due to Patrick Denain’s illness.

Keith has of course performed at Harwich Shanty Festival previously as one third of the group “Three Sheets to the Wind”, but he is also a respected performer in his own right, of both folk and sea songs. He is also one of the finest concertina players in the U.K. and a worthy addition to our 2015 Guest List.

Trapped in the capital, far from the sea, the London Lubbers inflict their love of shanties, sea-songs and questionable humour upon local folk clubs. A shifting (and somewhat shifty) crew, they are delighted to voyage up the A12 to Harwich once again.

All the way from  St. Austell and keen to preserve the heritage of their native county, Press Gang sing tales of Cornwall and the sea with humour, harmonies and fun. Apart from a memorable “flash mob” appearance at Gatwick Airport, they rarely perform east of the Tamar, so we are privileged to welcome them to Harwich this October.

Our first group from Norway! And we are very pleased to welcome Riggerloftets to the old town of Harwich. They come from the oldest town in Norway and sing both English and Norwegian Shanties. They have travelled extensively and performed at many festivals at home and abroad.