There is a slight draught at Va Pho, but this particular set of patrons have the warmth of dimsums and tales of Zimbabwean princes to shield them from it. The group of storytellers have been invited for Under the Aalamaram’s fifth annual recital, for which the first performance was held over the weekend at Music Academy.
It was in 2013 that Kathai Kalatta, started by Jeeva Raghunath, Kausalya Padmanabhan and Kanchana Manavalan, started the festival ‘Under the Aalamaram’, featuring storytellers from all over the world. “For us, the world of stories is only one. We are all together, there’s no caste, creed or religion here. It’s simply one heart talking to the other,” says Jeeva.
For its fifth anniversary, Jeeva got together Roger Jenkins from Singapore, Ariyo Zidni from Indonesia, Lindy Nilsson and Jackie Kerin from Australia, Diane Ferlatte from the USA, Craig Jenkins from the UK and Giorgiana Elena from Romania.
On the spot
When it’s Craig’s turn to perform, he doesn’t walk on to the stage: he sashays. Within minutes, he has the audience making jungle noises — and at one point, hugging each other — as he tells the all-familiar folk tale of a mother monkey who finds her baby the most beautiful of all animals.
“I performed this story because it is my birthday, and I wanted to dedicate it to my mother,” he says. “There’s something universal, yet personal about a mother’s love.”
Most of the others, however, decided to switch the stories they would perform at the last minute, after seeing the energy of the crowd.
“That’s the importance of being live. That spontaneity helps us make a connection with the audience,” says Roger, who performed with puppets. “If you visit us another time, some of the stories may be the same, but the jokes, the interactions will make for a completely fresh performance. That’s what keeps me coming back to it.” Quips Jeevam, “Live storytelling is the umbilical cord; TV is a cable cord.”
And so it is that multiple new stories originate from one traditional story. Diane recounts how, after her performance, a woman came up to give her a kiss. “She said to me, ‘The story you told, I felt like it was made just for me’” she says.
Connecting cultures
“I wanted to tell a story that’s arguably Australian,” says Jackie. Her story, about an Australian songbird — the lyre bird — who befriends a woman, is based on a true story that she had read in the papers. “It was published on February 13, 1932,” she recalls, “Never before had a wild lyre bird been recorded interacting and singing with a human being.”
Chennai: 25-08-2018, For City: Story Teller. Photo: M. Karunakaran
Telling the story of the woman Edith, and James, her bird, Jackie teasingly wiggles her imaginary tail, with the constant refrain, “He cracked like a whip bird, whistled like a wren, piped like a robin, laughed like a kookaburra, chimed like a bellbird, wobbled like a magpie, sang like a thrush…”
In doing so, Jackie hopes to re-introduce the new generation of Australian children to the country’s flora and fauna. “We need people to re-learn how to look after the country,” she says, adding that she has always been a nature-lover.
Exchange of storytelling culture was a big part of the night. Observes Diane, “Traditionally, European storytelling didn’t include songs. But as cultures mix with cultures, they too have begun adding songs and ditties to their stories.” Jeeva’s story, on the other hand, was almost all song. “I want to give my story a local flavour, so I narrate in Tamil, Telugu, even Malayalam.”
Matters of influence
Chennai: 25-08-2018, For City: Story Teller. Photo: M. Karunakaran
Ariyo admits he has begun to imbue in his own performances, this energetic form of storytelling that Jeeva employs.
On the other hand, Jackie and Lydia, discuss how back home in Australia, storytellers are less likely to improvise as much as it was done here in Chennai, on that night.
“But then, that is because this is a group free of judgment,” remarks Roger.
Indeed, the group has gotten along so well with each other, they are still singing and dancing after the performance and the following dinner.
As the rain starts falling slow and thick outside Va Pho, Giorgiana and Craig are screaming, “It’s raining men, Hallelujah” in the lobby. “You can call it our performance after the performance,” she says.
Catch the second performance of ‘Under the Aalamaram’ on September 1, from 10 am onwards, at Akshar Árbol International School. Call 9176257479.
