THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 9, 1995 TAG: 9506090073
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
THERE THEY were, 20 men or more on a team of menhaden fishers, hauling nets. Nets filled with thousands of fish.
``It soon came to the point where muscle was not enough,'' wrote folklorist John Frye. Then the men would start chanting. Worksongs passed down from generation to generation were called out, replete with call-and-response straight out of the church and fields.
``Well, that helped when you got a big batch of fish,'' says Calvin Hill, a retired fisherman who was among the last to raise the nets by hand.
He's a member of the Northern Neck Chantey Singers, who carry on the tradition of the menhaden songs. The group is recognized as the sole remaining voices of a form rendered obsolete around 1960, when hydraulic power brought an end to the manual labor of lifting the nets from the waters of the Atlantic.
Hill is a resident of Reedville, one of only two fishing communities that boasted such chanteys. The Chantey Singers will perform Saturday as part of the first Chincoteague Homestyle Music and Shrimp Festival.
Hill seems flattered by the attention.
``You know, it's pretty great,'' he says of the string of appearances the Singers have made over the past few years. ``Because it is history.''
Reedville's fishing season usually ran from May to October, Hill remembers, adding that ``at times, we would catch a boat to North Carolina and fish through Christmas.''
The days, not surprisingly, were often long.
``Ain't no tellin' how long the hours would be. It could last all night if you tore up a net, you see.''
Hill marvels at the nets currently in use, even stronger than those of days passed.
``I tell you the truth, we have floated a boat with nets that would hold 1,500 pounds of fish, so it's no telling how many they can hold now.''
The festival is one of musician Bob Zentz's first major moves since he closed Ramblin' Conrad's, the area folk-music center he ran for more than 20 years. Zentz is focusing on his performing career (he'll play at Chincoteague, as will wife Kay) and helping towns put together events.
The Zentzes' involvement in the festival grew out of their frequent summer visits to Chincoteague, and an afternoon of music-making in a motel lobby there. Bob Zentz was subsequently asked to hand-pick musicians for this weekend.
``Part of the fun of a festival is to sample,'' he says of Saturday's full day of performers and food. ``If you tried to eat everything on the table, you'd end up real sick.'' MEMO: To hear the Northern Neck Chantey Singers, dial 640-5555. Press 4343.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo
The Northern Neck Chantey Singers carry on the tradition of menhaden
songs.
by CNB