ABOUT US
QAR - Our Music, Our Crew, Our Story
From the Norwegian and North Seas, through the Skagerrak, across the Baltic, to the Gulf of Bothnia - the Viking Age through the era of the Hanseatic League and into later centuries - the songs of sailors echoed across the waters.
Stockholm, Amsterdam, Stettin, Gdańsk, and Kingston upon Hull had more in common with each other back then than with the towns deep inland. Bound together by a vast maritime cultural highway, their portside taverns vibrated not only with local tunes, but also with British broadside and penny ballads - songs brought ashore by island mariners, forging a universal language of the coasts.
We perform maritime and Celtic music. Formed in Stettin in 2022, our five-piece lineup brings together experienced musicians from across the folk scene. Our aim is to perform classic English shanties and forebitters (forecastle songs of leisure) within a lively folk framework. Beyond work songs, we play the spirited Irish, Scottish, and English tunes that would fill the air after hours on the decks of tall ships, brought to life by improvised "foo-foo bands." We capture this heritage using traditional instruments of the Isles: fiddle, melodeon, bagpipes, bodhrán, mandolin, and Irish bouzouki.
Stettin, Polish roots
In the port city of Stettin, which once boasted several groups performing sea songs and ballads, maritime tales were rarely heard until recently. However, thanks to sailing singing enthusiasts, the Cutty Sark Tavern has recently come alive with concerts and regular shanty gatherings, and a promising new band that draws from the classics has also emerged.
- szanty24.pl -
