Deep Sea Chanties

Nov 10

Written By Guest User

Martha McDonald singing on board the HMAS Blackbird

Performance on boat from Melbourne, Australia to Substation

Audience hearing lore about sea shanties and merchant marines

Martha McDonald performing sea shanties like The Grey Funnel Line

Audience seafaring during performance on HMAS Blackbird

Boat called HMAS Blackbird arrives at Substation

Sailor's knots on knot board in installation

Deep Sea Chanties
on board the HMAS Blackbird journeying to The Substation—Melbourne, Australia
January 27, 2012

with Craig Woodward on fiddle and concertina

Deep Sea Chanties took audiences on a song tour in a small boat journeying from the city of Melbourne through the industrial river passage to the suburb of Newport. Drawing on vintage sea shanties, seafaring lore, and my impending return to the US after living in Australia for four years, the performance explored how sailors used singing to cope with longing for home and fear of the unknown during long sea voyages.

Following the boat trip, audiences were driven a short distance to an art center in a former substation where my installation featured sailor’s knots and a vintage phonograph playing my rendition of the sea shanty The Grey Funnel Line. The performance and installation paid homage to my late father-in-law who served in the merchant marines during the 1940s and 50s and taught himself opera by singing along to Enrico Caruso records on a Victrola aboard his ship.

Vintage Phonograph called Deep Sea Shanties by McDonald

Audience members took home a record as a memento of their journey. Performance commissioned by The Substation as part of the exhibition Stories from the city, stories from the sea, queer urban tales. 7-inch record commissioned by Satellite Art Projects.

Learn about the process of making this piece on the Satellite website