The Lineup
Meet the talented artists who'll make this seaside songfest a weekend you'll never forget. Put on your dancing shoes and warm up your singalong chops - it's going to be amazing.
The Barra MacNeils
As a group, the MacNeil siblings from Sydney Mines, Cape Breton Island, are widely regarded as one of the greatest live concert acts in the Celtic world. Voted Fans' Choice Entertainer of the Year at the 2019 East Coast Music Awards, the family group is deeply rooted in Celtic music, culture, dance, language and history. Their numerous critically-acclaimed recordings, including 2018’s On the Bright Side, have included their own original songs as well as tried and true standards, both instrumental and vocal.
For more than 30 years now, the Barra MacNeil's concert experience has brought much more to the stage than most live acts ever could. Multiple lead vocalists, beautiful sibling harmonies, top-drawer instrumental prowess on a wide variety of acoustic, stringed, percussion and wind instruments, all blended with dancing, storytelling, Gaelic songs and a journey through an ancient culture—it is family entertainment at its highest level. Steeped in Cape Breton tradition with strong Celtic roots and musical artistry, this diverse and talented family group continues to wow audiences around the world with their captivating vocals, harmonies and extraordinary musicianship.
Seán Dagher
Seán Dagher is an active performer, arranger, and composer of music from various folk and classical music traditions: Celtic, Baroque, Medieval, Arabic, French-Canadian, and Maritime. He is a member of Skye Consort and is the co-artistic director of La Nef. Seán sings and plays Irish bouzouki, mandolin, oud, and banjo. Seán has also provided arrangements for other ensembles and artists, including Camerata Nova (Winnipeg), Chor Leoni (Vancouver), Arion, Palade Musica, Les Voix Humaines, La Mandragore, Pierre Lapointe (all Montreal), Shannon Mercer, I Furiosi (Toronto), Les Voix Baroques, Choeur Louisbourg (Moncton), Cantatica (Pennsylvania), and the Nashville Baroque Orchestra. Other groups he has played with include the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Caprices, Les Boréades, Le Petit Rien.
Seán's voice is widely known from his recordings for the Assassin's Creed video game series, including Black Flag. His renditions of sea shanties and other songs from the games have been streamed some 70 million times. His own Shanty of the Week video series receives thousands of views a week and has a loyal following the world over. Seán's compositions and arrangements have been performed across Canada, the United States, and Europe. He has worked with the Festival du Monde Arabe creating shows of Middle Eastern and North African music. He has arranged and composed music for audio books, with story-teller and musician Suzanne De Serres, Youth Program Director for La Nef, and for American author Sandra Gulland. He has been a composer and sound designer for theatre productions.
He has been nominated for numerous OPUS and ADISQ awards and participated in the ADISQ-winning CD, La Traverse Miraculeuse with La Nef and Les Charbonniers de l'enfer. He has won OPUS awards for Creation of the Year (Leave Her, Johnny), Album of the Year (Skye Consort & Emma Björling) and Youth Production of the Year (Le chat et le gondolier, La Nef).
Brise-Glace
The band « Brise-Glace » is the perfect example of the merging of 2 cultures, of two Bretons and two Quebecers. Since 2014, they have performed on several stages and festivals in Quebec, Nova Scotia, the United States, France, Netherlands and England.
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Armed with a guitar, a banjo, an accordion and four voices, they revisit the traditional and contemporary maritime folk repertoire. The result is a very dynamic mix between the traditions of Europe and the new world, between the daily life of sailors and the imaginary world inherited from the sea.
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With an extensive experience and communicative energy, the four members of Brise-Glace will know how to… break the ice!
Chris Ricketts
Chris hails from England. Although he has performed in Canada many times this will be his third visit to New Brunswick (he was with us the last 2 years!).
According to Acoustic Magazine, "'Chris is the sort of artist who can hold a whole room spellbound with the sound of his voice alone."
Melanie Ross
Steeped in the song tradition of Miramichi and fine tuned in performance venues in places like Tokyo, Bangkok, Switzerland, Ireland, England, Dubai, and Hong Kong, Melanie has delighted audiences with her pure clear voice and her performances from the heart. Well known for her a capella ballad singing, heartfelt performances of many styles of music, and appearances at folk festivals in Canada and internationally, Melanie brings authenticity to each musical performance.
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Whether she is singing her unique a capella ballads, launching into one of her original compositions, or singing one of her thoughtful arrangements of well-known or traditional tunes, an opportunity to see Melanie on-stage is one not to be missed.
Bytown Sea Shanty Collective
Bytown Sea Shanty Collective is a quartet from Ottawa, Canada, born out of a love of the East Coast (we all have family ties down east, though New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland ). BSSC formally began their adventure in July 2022, after organizing living room singalongs since 2019. Since launching, BSSC has been offering free, accessible monthly Sea Shanty singalongs in Ottawa. What started with a first evening bringing in 30-40 people, now regularly sees 200+ attending on a monthly basis, with lineups out the door. BSSC is committed to giving back to their community and regularly engage in fundraising, bringing in over $8000 in 2023.
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A key focus of BSSC has been giving people without musical training an opportunity to sing in a group - there are so many benefits that come from group singing, but opportunities are few! With that in mind, BSSC has worked to remove all barriers at their singalongs: there is no cover, no weekly practices (this is not a choir!), no need to read sheet music, no need for perfection. All are welcome.
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Bytown Sea Shanty Collective is currently working on original material, planning recording sessions, and booking concerts both in Ottawa and out of town. They are so excited to be a part of Fundy Sea Shanty Festival!
Taproom Growlers
The Taproom Growlers group is a seven member, sea shanty ensemble based in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. They will get your toes tapping, your hands clapping and have you singing along with their lively performance. They perform songs of the sea from the days of sail, as well as more modern versions of life at sea and sailors' dreams. The group members are Wayne Currie, Ken Maher, Miles Leahy, Gordon Keel, Alex Constable, Liam Constable and Mark Stubbs.
Katherine Moller
Katherine Moller’s music combines the rugged Scottish Highlands, the lush greens of Ireland, and the majesty of the St. John River Valley. Performing classical, baroque, and fiddle, Katherine merges these influences in original Celtic compositions. An active teacher, Katherine runs a private violin/fiddle studio in Fredericton, NB, as well as running successful online teaching programs with students from as far away as Australia. With rising popularity and multiple awards/nominations for her 7 solo albums, she truly is the master of four strings and a bow.
Dram and a Draw
Andy Chatham and Kris Morey aren't from Newfoundland and Labrador, but they are often mistaken for it. Both their fathers were born there and ended up on the mainland married to New Brunswick girls. Their lifelong interest in the time-honoured tunes of the East Coast, along with their love of the Maritime JamBand scene led to Dram & A Draw, where the button accordion and the acoustic guitar are brought together in a traditional, yet modern way.
Upbeat, infectious melodies combine with interwoven vocal harmonies overtop a deep bass and a powerful stomp to create a rich, full, and exciting sound. Classic Celtic tunes are reimagined for today and original songs are crafted in the old style. Dram & A Draw is a modern East Coast Kitchen Party that'll get you up on your feet and dancing with the crowd!
Sons of Gael
Sons of Gael have been entertaining audiences in Atlantic Canada for the past 30 years, singing a mix of Scottish, Irish and Canadian Folk Music with rich harmonies and traditional acoustic instruments.
They have played such events as RCMP Musical Ride, Highland Games events, Alma Fleet Launch, Multicultural events, Irish and Scottish Festivals as well as other private and charity events from Campbellton to Halifax.
There have been many members in the band over the years, but the current members, Don Sage and Allan Laity are being joined today by former member Crystal Jones.
Sons of Gael hope their shows feel like a kitchen party, so feel free to sing along to any of the songs you may know.
Before The Mast
Before The Mast is nine guys who sing the sea shanties and sea songs that working men sang aboard ships in the age of sail. They sing with gusto and energy, balanced with heartfelt ballads and carefully-arranged harmonies. Like the sailors of old, they sing a cappella (without instruments), allowing the beautiful blend of male voices in harmony to shine through.
Mr Mark
When Mark Cameron isn't being a responsible adult in his new surroundings of New Brunswick, he's up to his usual wild and crazy stage antics before clusters of young people and their families as Mr. Mark ! Actually, this boy trapped in a man's body has been bringing song and laughter to festivals, schools, libraries and daycares across Canada since 2002.
Armed with a truckload of instruments, and a truckload of enthusiasm, his shows are a delightful romp through family life. Whether you're singing the praises of Macaroni and Cheese or bouncing to the beat of the Bucketheads ?...... you'll wind up wigglin' and gigglin' and wanting more..... Mr. Mark !!
RCMP Pipes & Drums Band
In 1998 with the approval of the Commanding Officer of “J” Division RCMP, the pipe and drum band was formed in Moncton, New Brunswick. The official RCMP Tartan was formally presented by Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, as part of the RCMP 125th Anniversary Celebrations. The tartan colours are derived from the seven colours of the RCMP uniform.
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The mandate of our band is to promote the RCMP through our music to our community across New Brunswick and beyond. “J” Division NB RCMP Pipes and Drums band is comprised of citizen volunteers from our communities with diverse backgrounds. J-Division Pipe Band is under the direction of Pipe Major Craig Wight, Pipe Sergeant Shane Grant and Drum Major Doug Holloway.
Riversong
Riversong, a collaborative acapella ensemble that takes its name from the Petitcodiac River in southeast New Brunswick, is comprised of ten women, each of whom brings a wealth of choral, vocal and theatrical experience to the group.
With a repertoire ranging from folk to sacred, vocal jazz to Renaissance, pop to classical.
---- and now, sea shanties ! -- they have been making and sharing their multi-harmonic musical joy for 15 years in New Brunswick and beyond.
They have toured Atlantic Canada, performing with Choeur Neil Michaud, Les Jeunes Chanteurs d’Acadie, Before the Mast, Codiac Concert Band, The Aeolian Singers, the late Laura Smith, Fundy Ceilidh, and most recently with Heather Rankin, in settings as widely varied as Moncton’s Capitol Theater production of The Sound of Music and Festival 500 in St. John’s, NL.
Wes Jagoe
Wes Jagoe is a storyteller. His albums include a number of compelling historically-based folk songs wherein authentic lyrics and lore abound.
Amongst his work is the astonishing story of the recovery of the Prince Victor figurehead, which had been originally made here in St. Martin’s over a century ago during this town’s booming ship-building era. The Prince Victor figurehead now proudly stands in the local museum, an echo of the grandeur of those exciting days long ago. Wes was asked to play the song for its inauguration. The song ‘The Wedding Cake House’, played on CBC radio is a truly delightful waltz about a house built right here on St. Martin’s very own Main St., built in secret to surprise a young man’s bride, over a century ago.
Wes’ ballads are works of art, crafted musically with skill and thoughtfulness, spotlighting worthwhile stories that should indeed be heard.
Nick Mercuri
Nick Mercuri, hailing from Cocagne, New Brunswick, has been playing music since the age of 10. Introduced to the music of Elvis Presley during his childhood, he aspired to become an Elvis Tribute Artist. Taking formal guital lessons sparked his journey even further. He decided to pursue a career as a full-time musician.
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Upon relocating to Fergus, Ontario, Nick started performing at open mic nights at the Elora Acoustic Cafe. As he matured, his musical influences expanded to include Merl Haggard, Keith Urban, Stan Rogers, and Great Big Sea. With the help of his new guitar instructor, he started writing his own music to blend the styles of his favourite artists.