Indigenous storytellers 2-day meet announced


Gangtok: A two day meet of the indigenous storytellers from various indigenous communities of India, especially from Sikkim and other parts of Eastern Himalayan region, is slated to be held on July 24 and 25 here at Deorali.

The meet, “1st Indigenous Storytellers’ Fest-Confluence” is being organized by Acoustic Traditional in association with the State culture department and will be held at the conference hall of the State forest department, Deorali.

The programme will draw storytellers from various indigenous communities for strengthening the “Indigenous Storytellers’ Network”, initiated by Acoustic Traditional, it is informed. The meet aims to promote the art of oral storytelling and creating interest in folklore among the younger generation.

Storytellers who have been invited for the event are JR Subba, GS Lama, Ghanshyam Sharma, Abhimaya Mangar, Tashi Bhutia, PC Thomas, Dollo Mihin from Arunachal Pradesh, Pavel from Manipur, Hari Pradhan and Potawa storytellers from West Bengal.

The Acoustic Traditional was initiated in 1997 as a communication project to promote mountain and forest based stories as a means to popularize indigenous cultures. The “Indigenous Storytellers’ Network” is about tribal folklore and storytellers and had been started as a flagship project by the Acoustic Traditional in 2008. The network is now a small, but growing and vibrant collective of tribal people and groups and their storytellers, our disappearing folklorists, the Acoustic Traditional said.
Apart from exploring the pleasures of listening to our folklore, which is an important aspect of reviving our tradition of storytelling, the network is also about reestablishing the links between our stories and our amazingly diverse and rich traditional knowledge, the Acoustic Traditional said.

[FROM SIKKIM REPORTER / EDITED BY ASHOK CHATTERJEE]