Shanty Choir at the Peter Café Sport

Shanties, singing and shouting have been part of seafaring for centuries. They helped sailors to do a better job and have a better mood. And they have become a tradition that we want to keep on our ship. We have loved to sing together since the beginning of our trip. Through the shanties we imagine the conditions and atmosphere of the time on old traditional sailing ships, which is always very fascinating.

After we arrived on the Azores and a few of us had already enjoyed a wonderful warm chocolate cake with sauce and vanilla ice cream at the famous Peter Café Sport, we had an idea: Wouldn’t it be incredible to present ourselves as a shanty choir in this place that is so important in the sailing world? Immediately we were fascinated by the idea and started planning. The next day we went to the café, and they were excited about the idea too. Our art princess Anna designed a beautiful poster representing us in a colourful way. We printed it out and hung the poster around the café to inform other people about our act.

The next morning was an exciting day. Before our act began, we were visited by Pedro and his colleagues who taught us a lot about whales, whale watching and the history of whaling. What a fascinating theme! In the evening, we also gave them a tour through our home, showing them how and where we live our day-to-day life. When it got dark, we met at the beautifully painted pier in front of the Thor and had our last practice together, and it went perfect! Lukas B. played the guitar and Marlene played the trumpet to accompany our singing. At 10 p.m. we entered the little café all together. It was full! The owner was there filming everything excitedly and what a surprise… the whole crew that was on vacation also came, so we were complete, the whole crew of KUS 2023/24 was at Peters. The crew had designed pretty posters which was a little bit embarrassing but very, very cute as well.

As we started singing it was very beautiful to see how many sailors joined our presentation. The people also began to sing the vocals with us and smiled this special smile, as they were thinking of sailing the sea. This happiness, this melancholy, is a feeling that connected us all and that came out very strong at that night.

We sung 10 different songs. The most were shanties, but there was also this one song… Postcards of Paraguay – by Mark Knopfler. Lukas played the guitar better than ever, and when Marlene started to play her trumpet solos, the crowd was in awe. We played one song after another, always explaining something about the meaning of the song and its meaning to us and our trip. After we had sung all our songs, we took a little break where the owner gave all of us a drink for free and after the break…we sang them all again!

After that long night we all were happy – happy and a little bit proud of ourselves – I mean who can say that he was in the Peter Café Sport and presented chanties? It was such a beautiful atmosphere singing in a room fully decorated with sailing history and the feelings of the sailing world. I hope that this night stays in our mind forever, remembering the atmosphere of our crew, our KUS family, and the meaning of music for us on our trip.