An ordinary man steps out from the crowd, and soon has them all clapping and singing along.
The man is David Coffin, a Massachusetts-based folk musician who specializes in historical music such as sea music.
He starts singing a sea shanty, a song with alternating solo and chorus that was originally sung by sailors while working together.
As the crowd joins in with Coffin, the sound builds up and begins to get amazing.
“Shanties are the work songs that were used on the square-rigged ships of the Age of Sail. Their rhythms coordinated the efforts of many sailors hauling on lines. Much loved by modern sailors and folk musicians, they are rarely used as work songs today. This is because modern rigging doesn’t require many people to be working in the same rhythm for long periods,” according to Redance.org.
Coffin’s singing “Roll the Old Chariot.”
