Welcome

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Early 1995 the members of the choir agreed that, when there is one typical city in Holland that has historical links with the sailing ages and a famous maritime and VOC past, that city is Hoorn on the borders of the lake IJsselmeer, the former Zuiderzee.

This beautiful historic city with many well kept buildings at and around the port makes it easy to sense the past activities around the port.
On the 29 th of January 1616, Captain Schouten, a citizen of Hoorn, was the first European captain to round South America, naming the most southern cape of South America Cape Horn as a tribute to the town where he as born.

That’s why on January 1995, 379 years later, as a tribute to Captain Schouten, we named the shanty choir we started “Shantymen Kaap Hoorn”. Since then the sound of sea shanties, ballads and fore bitters fills the air of the old Karperskuyl port where the choir is practising every Tuesday night.

Over the 15 years Shantymen Kaap Hoorn became well-known in the Netherlands and abroad.

We do about 35 gigs a year and performed for Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, at Sail Amsterdam, Sail Flushing, live for BBC while touring in the UK and at many other (maritime) events in pubs, churches and theatres.

THE CHOIR MEMBERS

We have 27 (male) members, most of them with a tie to the sea, either professional or as a hobby: Bass : 5 - Bariton : 10 - Tenor : 9
Musicians : 3, playing squeeze box, accordion, guitar, violin and mandolin.

The musical director is Ruwald Diderich , a true professional who has a university degree in music and wrote all the musical arrangements for our songs.