Bryher’s Boys was formed back in 2017 when the Tenor and Bass sections of several West Cornwall choirs were press ganged to form a new crew especially designed to navigate the choppy waters of Sea Shanty singing!
Although firmly rooted in the male vocal tradition, our trademark style of free harmony ensures that no two performances sound exactly the same. Named after Bandleader Trevor Brookes’s youngest daughter, Bryher, the Boys do not hail from the Scillies themselves, but are based in West Cornwall, spread out from Newlyn to Truro.
Our collective love of the established folk repertoire, both Nautical and Cornish, proved an immediate hit with local audiences. So far we have given over 500 performances, in events as diverse as weddings, private parties, crowded pubs, community fundraisers (particularly for the RNLI). We also perform at large scale concerts – and even afloat aboard the RFA Lyme Bay!
International performances
We were particularly proud to have been selected to represent the whole of Cornwall in the summer of 2019, at Brittany’s Festival Interceltique. We took our unique mix of Traditional Cornish songs, shanties and shaggy dog stories to a new audience, with over 800,000 attendees at the festival, and up to 9,000 people in the crowd at a time! It topped a busy year which also saw the release of our 1st CD, The Ballad of the Boy Jacq. Lockdown didn’t stop us performing virtually, via a series of Lockdown Videos which have entertained over tens of thousands of viewers across the world.
Bryher’s Boys’ music has reached a national audience of millions, being featured in two episodes of the hit TV series “Rick Stein’s Cornwall”. We were also involved in the 2021 G7 Summit, when it was hosted in St Ives, as we were asked to compose and perform a “G7 Shanty” for Reuters News Agency. We sang this live on the BBC National and Worldwide News Channel, which boasts an audience of over 70 Million!
In August 2022, Bryher’s Boys spent a week representing Cornwall in the Isle of Man, courtesy of the Celtic Gathering festival there – https://ynchruinnaght.com/about-2/
Charity work
We sing because we love it, we perform because you love it, and your donations and ticket purchases make it possible for us to donate to local and community causes that are dear to our hearts. Since our foundation in 2017, we have donated over £10,000 to good causes, between £500 and £1,000 per year.
We will be filling in more information here in due course.
Bryher’s Boys are kindly sponsored by Falmouth’s National Maritime Museum