Chennai Storytelling Festival 2013 -- Teaching-and-Learning about Storytelling.
Presented by Chennai Storytelling Association, Indian Storytelling Network, World Storytelling Institute, and Goethe Institute of Chennai.
The core of the Festival were six three-hour Workshops over three days: 1) "Keynote session: Storytelling in the World Today"; 2) "Storytelling and Business"; 3) "Storytelling and Child Development" (on Emotional, Social, Linguistic, and Physical levels); 4) "Storytelling and Tourism"; 5) "Storytelling and Therapy/Healing/Counselling"; 6) "Storytelling and Education" (teaching Ecology and Languages). There were Storytelling Performances in the evenings.
Our Special Guest Speaker and Storyteller was Ms Kamini Ramachandran of Singapore: Artistic Director, Singapore International Storytelling Festival; Founding Member and Vice President, Storytelling Association (Singapore), and Co-Founder/Director, Moonshadow Stories.
Admission to most of the 2013 Chennai Storytelling Festival was free.
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Post-Festival Field-Trip to Thanjavur,
"Storytelling Visit to the Countryside"
4 to 7 February 2013
The Field-trip represented a relatively new stage in the
evolution of the study of Folklore. In the past, stories were just written down
for the public to read. Now, the public is being invited to visit the
Storytellers, listen to their stories, and be trained by the Storytellers in
the local storytelling style.
A mission of this Field-trip was for the visitors to receive
training in a particular type of storytelling -- the telling of Raja-Rani
Kathai (Folk Tales), in which the Storyteller periodically breaks into song.
That is, at certain points during the telling, the Storyteller (as Characters) may
sing Characters' thoughts, or the Storyteller (as Narrator) may sing about the
story.
Thus, we were trained in a particular ancient
Communication Skill. We believe this Communication Skill could be very useful
in holding the attention of listeners (children and others), when we are
telling Folk Tales and other stories, in Tamil and in any other language.
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Immediately following CSF2013, 16 participants attended a
"Storytelling Workshop in the Countryside" (Feb 5-6).
The CSF2013 was followed by a visit to the Thanjavur
area for a Storytelling Workshop in the traditional Storytelling style known as
Kathaiyum Paattum (Story and Song).
Our hosts were scholars related to the Folklore Dept of
Tamil University, and a number of the (especially women) Storytellers they have
been working with over the years. Translation was available
(Tamil-English, etc).
Our Storytelling teachers told us "Raja-Rani
Kathai" ("King-Queen Stories"), and "Paati Kathai"
("Grandmother Stories"), about strong and clever women, especially
Kannagi of Silappathikaram (the Epic of the Anklet).
We learned ways of telling these local stories, and any
stories, in the Story and Song style (in
Tamil and English).
Story and Song is a great treasure of Tamil
Storytelling. It involves speaking a
story, and occasionally breaking into song: sometimes the narrator sings about
the story; and sometimes characters sing their thoughts. Story and Song is so "grass-roots"
that it is often not noticed by people who are not themselves engaging in the
activity. It is a classic
"under-the-radar" activity (not high enough to be noticed), because
it is a primarily a domestic, non-professional art and craft, often a part of
child-rearing.
Equivalents of Story and Song are practiced throughout much
of the African-Indian-Pacific region of the world.
Day 1 (Tues 5 Feb 2013).
Met local Storytellers.
Saw local landscapes -- Agriculture (Marutam) and Pasture
(Mullai) lands.
Story-and-Song Storytelling Workshop began.
Day 2
Workshop continued.
In Late Afternoon: Story and Song Storytelling Performance
for School Children.
For info about the 2014 Chennai Storytelling Festival, please contact 98403 94282, www.storytellinginstitute.org .
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