Jakarta - The lion woke up and turned to his wife. "Good morning, wife", he said.
"Ooohh," said the wife. "What bad breath you have!"
"Noooo," said the husband, "my advisers tell me it is very sweet".
With those words Thai storyteller Wajuppa Tossa began her audience on a journey where they become the storytellers, and the adults are as enthralled as the children.
Sixteen-year-old Aulia took part in Wajuppa‘s storytelling workshop. "It‘s so funny! When someone‘s telling a story usually it‘s without expression, but she uses so much expression."
More than 20 storytellers from seven ASEAN countries are meeting in Jakarta this weekend for the Children‘s Book Lovers‘ (KPBA) eighth giant storytelling festival.
The five-day event includes workshops, puppet shows, the presentation of academic papers on folklore, and plenty of storytelling.
Children‘s book author and festival organizer Murti Bunanta said this year‘s focus on ASEAN was a great opportunity for children to find out about the folklore of their neighbor countries.
"Children know about Snow White and Cinderella," said Murti, "but sometimes we don‘t know our own neighbors. This is a chance to strengthen relations between us."
The ASEAN-focused event includes storytellers from Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, Brunei, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
Filipino writer and storyteller Carla Pacis said it was time Southeast Asian countries explored the tales in their own backyards.
"For the Philippines it‘s really important we look back at Asia, because we‘re always looking to the West, to the United States. Why?
Pacis said many children had forgotten their own cultures and traditions, adding that the festival was about getting away from television and mobile phones and back to oral storytelling.
"Even if there are 250 kids it is still more of a personal connection. It becomes more intimate; there‘s no barrier."
But there is one small barrier: language.
It is an obstacle each storyteller has to find a way to successfully traverse. Children are usually not shy about beginning their own conversations when they‘ve lost the story‘s thread.
Most of the performers tell their stories in English and their words are relayed to the audience in Indonesian.
Murti said this should not be thought of as translation but tandem storytelling.
Thai storyteller Tossa said the trick of engaging the children was using gestures and facial expressions.
"When the translator is translating, she‘s trying to do the same (communicating expressively) but even when she is translating I stay in character so I‘m not just standing there waiting for my line."
Most of the stories told at the festival have been passed down through the generations.
Chin Yahan from Cambodia first heard many of the stories she tells from her mother and grandmother.
"I pass them down now and I think that the next generation will pass them down to the next."
"I think that the next generation should not only pass down the old stories but also create some new stories according to the changing world."
Yahan tells a story about the danger of things that explode.
She uses the story to educate children in her own country, where landmines are still a very real danger.
She also tells stories about the war in Cambodia. She describes stories as "The remedy for the children‘s mind".
"We give space for the teller to contact directly with the memory or with sensation. Children can listen and can be cured of their stress or the bad emotions in their mind."
Many of the stories told at this year‘s festival are allegorical and can be enjoyed by both adults and children.
KPBA holds a festival every two years to encourage children‘s love for words and to celebrate National Children‘s Day.
This year‘s festival runs until Aug. 5. Spike Mountjoy
Source: http://old.thejakartapost.com (August 04, 2008)
