Fatted on Fogs and Perils - ‘Fishermen’s Ballads and Songs of the Sea’ 150 Years On

Join Gloucester singer and song-searcher Michael O'Leary for a talk and performance based on pieces in the book Fishermen's Ballads and Songs of the Sea, published in 1874 by the Procter Bros. of Gloucester. It is a collection of 120 pieces by a wide array of authors, both women and men, a few known widely, many known only locally or not at all, and some anonymous or pseudonymous. It's a literary, musical and folkloric time capsule of Gloucester, and 2024 was the 150th anniversary of its publication.

In Michael’s words, “I am forever inspired by this quote from the Irish poet Brendan Kenneally: “All songs are living ghosts and long for a living voice.” With this project I want to fulfill the longing of the ghosts of these songs/poems, the vast majority of which I'm sure have gone unspoken and unsung, even unseen, for decades.

Bio: 

A Gloucester resident of thirty five years, Michael O’Leary is a singer and collector of Celtic and Maritime songs. He has performed extensively on Cape Ann and strives to share the historical and cultural background of songs. His Fisherman’s Ballads project works with the 1874 Gloucester publication 'Fishermen's Ballads and Songs of the Sea', a collection of 120 pieces by a wide array of authors, including many who were local. He has set the poetry of Cape Ann quarry workers to music and is now doing the same with the works of fishermen. 

He invites you to come along on one of the Celtic Music Sunset Sails he hosts on schooner Ardelle every Sunday from Memorial Day weekend through the end of September.

Acknowledgements:

Michael's project has been supported in part by a grant from Awesome Gloucester and grants from the Gloucester and Manchester Cultural Councils, local agencies supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.