2020-2021 season choral music

The Wellerman, also known as Soon May the Wellerman Come, is a well-known whaling song and sea shanty. Originating from New Zealand, the song frequently refers to the "wellermen", supply ships owned by the Weller Brothers. The song's lyrics describe a whaling ship called the "Billy o' Tea" and its hunt for a right whale (baleen whales). The song describes how the ship's crew hope for a "wellerman" (an employee of the Weller brothers, who owned ships that brought provisions to New Zealand whalers) to arrive and bring them supplies of luxuries, with the chorus stating "soon may the wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum." According to the song's listing on the website New Zealand Folk Song, "the workers at these bay-whaling stations (shore whalers) were not paid wages, they were paid in slops (ready-made clothing), spirits and tobacco." In the whaling industry in 19th-century New Zealand, the Weller brothers owned ships that would sell provisions to whaling boats. The male chorus sing of their hope that "one day when the tonguing' is done we'll take our leave and go". "Tonguing" in this context refers to the practice of cutting strips of whale blubber to render into oil and was a ghastly smell that filled the air of Otago Harbour, but the shore whalers did not care as they smelled money for their hard work!  Subsequent verses detail the captain's determination to bring in the whale in question, even as time passes and multiple whaling boats are lost in the struggle. In the last verse, it describes how the Billy o' Tea is still locked in an ongoing struggle with the whale, with the wellerman making a "regular call" to encourage the captain, crew and all.