Wild-thingslayhere - Just Aesthetic

Work Songs and Sea Shanties

There’s been a lot of posts making the rounds discussing the ties between industrial union songs, folk songs, and sea shanties (since there’s been a rise in sea shanty popularity because of tik tok.) But I have yet to see one making the direct connection from African American work songs. Which is a little disheartening, as a black person who has always liked and enjoyed the genre.

Work songs have existed lonnnnnggg before shanties. But the distinct lyrical and instrumental form of what we immediately think of as “sea shanty” had antecedents in the working chants of international maritime traditions. Mainly those sung while loading vessels with cotton in ports of the Southern United States, during the 18th and 19th century. And you know what also rose in the 18th and 19th century?

Answer: Chattel Slavery.

“In the first few decades of the 19th century, White European-American culture, especially the Anglophone—the sailors’ “Cheer'ly Man” and some capstan songs notwithstanding—was not known for its work songs. By contrast, African workers, both in Africa and in the New World, were widely noted to sing while working. The fact that European observers found African work-singers so remarkable suggests that work songs were indeed rather foreign to their culture.” Source

Slave music has many distinct qualities. In early captivity, drums were used to provide rhythm, but they were banned in later years because of the fear that Africans would use them to communicate in a rebellion (they were, and also used as escape codes.) Slaves then resorted to generating percussion, using other instruments or their own bodies. Another quality is the call-and-response format, where a leader sing’s a verse or verses and the others respond with a chorus. There’s also field hollers, shouts, moans, etc.

As slaves were forced into christianizing, their work songs evolved into Spirituals. Other measures to prevent slave rebellion included making sure that slaves from the same tribe were intentionally scattered, so that they could not share the same language. The forbiddance of practicing indigenous religions and speaking anything other than English meant that eventually, the large groups of slaves were once again able to communicate with each other.

Spirituals were largely informed by the colonial hymns and folk songs of the time. They had the multitudinous purpose of 1.) keeping everyone working 2.) imparting Christian values 3.) describing the hardships of slavery, and 4.) hiding codes to escape. Famous Spirituals include “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Wade in the Water” and they were a significant part of navigating the Underground Railroad.

The switch to steam powered ships by the end of the 19th century gradually made sea shanties obsolete as work songs, so they are largely preserved as folk music. But because African Americans were still forced into the labour class, their work songs continued to evolve. Here are some chain gang songs for example.

Work songs > Spirituals > Gospel Music > Blues > Every Modern Black American Musical Genre That we Know Today

Not only that, but the root genre of work songs still exist across the globe, distinct to the agricultural and industrial work force of each culture. These videos were all posted within the last 5-10 years, from Tasmania, South Africa, The Philippines, and Tanzania. You can hear the connection between them being the tremendous labour they do.

A quick introduction to mead making:

Terminology:

Metheglin = Herbed mead

Melomel = mead made with fruit

Carboy = glass container for brewing

Must = yeast sediment that accumulates during brewing

Sodium Metabisulphite = sanitizing powder

green mead = fresh non-aged mead (it’s not literally green)

Rack/Racking = the process of storing and aging finished meads

Equipment/ingredients:

Carboy

Airlock

funnel

sanitizing agent such as sodium metabisulphite

(depending on recipe and method) wine/champagne yeast

honey

non-chlorinated fluoride free water such as spring water or distilled

lemon

fruit/herbs if desired

(optional but recommended) auto-syphon and hose

My basic recipe (for about a gallon):

about 3lbs honey*

1 gallon spring or distilled water

the juice from half a fresh lemon

about ½ to 2/3 of a 5gram package of blanc wine yeast

*Selecting honey: The kind of honey you use depends on the kind of mead you want, if you use fresh raw honey (i.e. straight from the hive) it will have natural wild yeast in it that can be used in place of added wine yeast.

Pros of using wild yeast: its free and you could strike gold on flavor.

Cons of using wild yeast: unpredictable flavor, can take longer or even need help to start fermenting process.

For first time brewers it’s probably a good idea to play it safe and stick with wine yeast, at least until you get the process down and a feel for how things work. You can still use raw honey if you want, just make sure you heat it thoroughly to kill the wild yeast.

There are other things to keep in mind when choosing honey, the different flowers the bees might collect from effect honey flavor, time of year can also have an effect especially if you’re buying local honey, but there’s no hard or fast rules for choosing honey just go with a flavor you like or even just whatever’s cheap.

Method:

1) sanitize all your equipment especially the carboy

2) If using wine yeast: add all the honey to a large pot and dilute with a bit of your spring/distilled water and heat on low until the honey dissolves and is liquid DO NOT BOIL. (If using wild yeast) mix honey and water but do not heat.

3) pour your honey mixture into the carboy and add the rest of the water making sure to leave at least 6 to 8ins of head space to avoid overflow (the yeast will bubble up a lot in the first week or so of fermenting)

4) add in the yeast and lemon juice and gentle shake the whole thing for about 2 minutes

5) put the cork and airlock in place, label it with the date, and leave it be, usually bubbling starts within 24hrs but may take longer depending on temperature and yeast.

the length of time needed for fermentation varies by batch, things like temperature, altitude, and sugar content factor into the amount of time needed. It’s important to pay attention to your mead, it will bubble profusely through the airlock early on in fermentation do to the yeast gobbling up sugar and producing gas, this will slow down as the process continues until it stops. Once the fermentation/bubbling stops and the mead looks fairly clear -usually after about a month and a week or so- its ready to be separated from the must.

6) Using an auto-syphon / a small hose and gravity (you can also just pour it very carefully if you have too) separate the clear mead from the must into a clean vessel like a sanitized pot. Note: once again make sure all your equipment/bottles are sanitized

7) Now you have choices, you should have about a gallon of green mead on your hands it’s technically done and can be enjoyed right away, or you can bottle and rack it for a 1 - 4 months more to achieve a superior tasting aged mead, it’s up to you.

If you are storing your mead in latch-top bottles its best to only fill them up to about where the neck of the bottle meets the wide part, leaving a few inches of headspace in the neck.

Tips/notes:

whether or not you decide to use wine yeast or wild yeast use local farm fresh honey for the best flavor (it also supports your local farmers)

if you decide to rack and age your mead make damn well sure its completely done fermenting, if its not it may continue in the bottle and built up pressure until the bottle explodes.

mead is best drank within about a year of making it but can last up to at least 2 years

if you are planning on making batches one after another make sure to label your bottles so you don’t mix up old and new mead or different flavors

experiment with different types of honey and water to honey ratios to achieve different flavors/alcohol levels

I intentionally left out adding any kinds of fruits or herbs because this is just a basic recipe and depending on what you use there can be different processes, it’s best to do your own research.

There so many different methods and recipes for mead making, if anyone wants to add impute or recipes please do!

@pinetreesandhoneybees @cat-a-holic