#317. Sea shanties have taken the internet by storm! As these familiar songs go viral, we decided to do some digging on their function and history, then recycle an interview with Storm Weather Shanty Choir's founder and lead man, Haakon Vatle. In 2018, August and Andy sat down in person with Haakon in Bergen, Norway. Haakon Vatle holds the world's ONLY master's degree in sea shanties. Fans of the show will know his band, Storm Weather Shanty Choir, as the group of Norwegian musicians who have mastered the art of the modern sea shanty. To start this episode off, we spoke with Biz Wallace, a captain and sail instructor who works aboard tallships, and Christian Letourneau, a former ship's cook and a writer. August also got to chat with Haakon now, in 2021, to catch up on how the sea shanty craze is affecting the band, their upcoming album (February 5th!) and how Norway's tallship, the Statsraad Lehmkul, is faring through COVID times. In this episode, you will also hear recordings of shanties sung by folks at Sea Education Association, a sail training and marine science program that Biz Wallace, Christian Letourneau, and Emma Garschagen have all worked with.

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Haakon Vatle // Sea Shanties and Storm Weather Shanty Choir