PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Once upon a time there was a song that appealed to the imagination of the Internet / When TikTok revived the humble slum of the sea / The views came quickly, fashion could last / Go, read about it go:
___
People are stuck at home, toiling, getting bored, going crazy.
Confined sailors who felt the same way on long ocean voyages broke out of boredom with work songs called sea huts.
It only makes sense, then, that the shacks have taken a complete turn with an unprecedented moment of popularity during the pandemic.
“Times are tough. If we can sing, it will help us get through it, just like sailors did on big ships, ”said Bennett Konesni, from Belfast, Maine, who started singing sailors on a schooner in Penobscot Bay and performs several times per week with the Mighty Work Song Community Choir.
TikTok has helped maritime slums to become popular.
The application has a duet feature that allows people to create a 60-second song and then allows others to add their voices.
People started using the resource to record slums from the sea, and slums quickly became a common thing, starting last month. The ShantyTok movement even contributed to a Longest Johns interpretation of the centenary “Wellerman” sailing in the UK’s Top 40. Another version of Nathan Evans with a strong beat reached the second position in the middle of the week.
The sudden popularity is not so difficult to understand. After all, people crave interaction during the pandemic, and shacks are group efforts that don’t require great singing skills – although some of the TikToks are quite sophisticated and elaborate.
___
Live the music rush from work / To bring us joy and fun / One day, when the pandemic is over / Back to the office we will go
___
Shanties and maritime songs are grouped in the trend, but real huts were work songs. The sailors of yore sang to pass the time and coordinate their efforts in hoisting sails and anchors and handling sewage pumps.
They usually consist of a chorus – in “Wellerman”, it’s about a ship loaded with “sugar, tea and rum” – which is easy to memorize. There may be formal lyrics, or participants may choose to improvise, with others joining the chorus, said Matthew Baya, a radio program host from Williamstown, Massachusetts.
The huts helped the sailors to relieve tension and remain healthy amid the cruelty of isolation and cramped quarters. Feirinhas sometimes involved humorous insults to the commanders or the shipping companies that employed them.
Vocal chops are a bonus, but not a necessity.
“Not all sailors kept the pitch perfect. They were not in this job because of their musical talent, ”said Baya. “You will find some people who are really talented and others who are just having fun, but may not get all the grades right.”
Many people who sing sea slums at local festivals in Mystic, Connecticut; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Plymouth, Massachusetts and other seaports in the United States are thrilled with the sudden attention. Shacks are even more popular in some parts of Europe.
“If people are having fun singing, it has to be good,” said Baya, one of the hosts for “Saturday Morning Coffee House” at WERU-FM in Blue Hill, Maine. Your show usually includes one or two favelas.
___
Many workers are trapped inside the house and alone / A sense of whimsy can give them a thorn / Because of that, the slum trend shone / So sing, sing while walking
___
Slums tend to be associated with England, which ruled the seas in the 18th and 19th centuries. But they are sung from Maine, where English settlers began a shipbuilding tradition, to Massachusetts, home to the country’s whaling fleet, down to the Bay from Alabama, the Caribbean and around the world, said Konesni.
These are work songs like the ones sung by slaves in the Southern harvest, miners digging underground and loggers cutting down trees in the forest, all receiving renewed attention thanks to the shacks, said Konesni, who is a cultural ambassador for the State Department and has built slums throughout the world.
The trend is refreshing in a world that has grown accustomed to people performing on stage to a crowd, said Konesni.
The shacks are different because they are participatory. The audience is encouraged to sing along with it.
“It has a depth, history and singing ability that many pop songs lack,” he said.
Geoff Kaufman, who made his living singing slums and ran the Sea Music Festival at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, said he had fun and was intrigued by the sudden fascination with slums.
He loves the idea of a new generation raising their voices.
“I hope this will bring more young people into the herd,” he said.
___
Live the music rush from work / To bring us joy and fun / One day, when the pandemic is over / Back to the office we will go
___
Associated Press writer Mallika Sen contributed to this Los Angeles report.