Posted: September 28, 2006
Storytelling is an ancient element of the human experience. Like the artifacts a museum exhibits, stories illuminate a culture’s evolving beliefs, values, and lifestyles. They go hand-in-hand in building an appreciation for both personal history and public accomplishment.
Tellers serve as teachers, historians, disciplinarians, and entertainers in every part of the world. We have been happy to schedule several tellers in the Spurlock Museum in 2006, to demonstrate the wondrous ways that story weaves in and out of the tapestry of our lives.
Dovie Thomason is an American Indian teller of the Lakota and Kiowa Apache traditions. Listen to the two clips below from her February concerts. In the first, she talks about one of the purposes of telling tales. In the second, you will hear a small portion of a tale about Bear, who is trying to hibernate but constantly disturbed by a wiggly Chipmunk who wants to join him. Though very funny, the tale is also a lesson in the different strengths each person possesses. (Would you rather be Bear, who can sleep through the cold winter, or Chipmunk, who is so very full of energy?)
English storyteller Taffy Thomas has a special tale coat. Depictions of animals and story scenes cover it from collar to hem. Pick one, and Taffy will be off on a folktale inspired by that picture. In his clip below (be forewarned!) Taffy demonstrates a bit of one of our guilty pleasures, the telling of a ghost story. With stories, the scream and the smile are both important outcomes.
Dan Keding joined us for our April WorldFest event. He learned many of his first stories at the knee of his Croatian grandmother. Hearing stories from elders is one of the favorite and most traditional ways for stories to be learned. Dan begins a type of story that is as old as storytelling itself, a story that explains the natural world. The Tale of Arachne tells us how the first spider was created.
On November 18th, two more tellers will be sharing their talents with our community. La’Ron Williams tells stories that shed light on the African-American experience. He is motivated in part by the belief that the power and beauty of African culture should be shared, and that the lessons of struggle, perseverance, and survival of Africans in the Western Hemisphere are part of a legacy we all should recognize and own. Foday Musa Suso is a Mandingo griot: a teller whose stories preserve the history and wisdom of his people. Tribal conflicts, empires and kingdoms, cultural heroes, and family lineage are part of his traditional repertoire that encompasses extensive verbal and musical recitations. Suso is a renowned musician, who performs on a variety of African instruments, including the kora, that he holds in the picture shown here.
