Shantykoor De Headammers

Back to the atmosphere of the nostalgic sailor life, that is the intended goal of Shantykoor “De Headammers”. This choir was founded in 1989 and is part of “Water sports association St. Nicolaasga”. The choir consists of a number of basses and tenors and is accompanied by a few accordionists. Two- or polyphonic songs are alternated by songs with solo singing (shantyman) and follow-up singing (the proper shantys). Most songs are sung in German, English and Dutch or in Pidgin-English a mixture of several languages. You will be transported back a hundred, two hundred years to the heyday of sailing with clippers and schooners and to harbor districts all over the world. During the day it was very busy there and at night the sailors wasted their hard-earned money in a short time. The crews consisted of tough tough guys from all over the world, who were recruited in the harbor bars. This is how rhythmic work songs, “shanties”, and cheerful or melancholic songs for leisure time, “forbitters”, were created, the musical ingredients of the adventurous but hard seaman's life.