Pippin 1 - Storytelling Toronto - Storytelling Toronto

Pippin - Spring 2009 1

Pippin

Vol.14, No.4 The Newsletter of Storytelling Toronto

INSIDE

Special congratulations are in order for Cathy Melville, Artistic Director of Festival 2009 and kudos to Rebecca Melville for her many contributions both artistically and otherwise. It was a splendid week for sto-rytelling fans and the community surround-ing the Wychwood Artscape Barns.

LAUNCH & BOOK PARTY at Toronto Reference Library Review by Deborah Dunleavy Close to two hundred storytelling fans came out to the Toronto Reference Library to celebrate the launch of the festival. And what a splendid night it was. Host Dan Ya-shinsky commenced the evening by thanking the sponsors, “If you want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk far, walk with friends.” Anna Kerz, a member of the Story Jam Cooperative, kicked off the round of telling with a delightful French Canadian tale, How the Devil Got His Cat. Two students from the program shared their storytelling wit and whimsy. Kayla Owens told The Lion and the Well and Darwin Oliver Valeny had us in stitches with his unique rendition of a story from India. Seasoned teller Mariella Bertelli charmed us with an Italian folk tale where a hunter must outwit the king. To rap up the first set T.J. Chang entertained us with a Chinese folk tale. Born in Taiwan, T.J. now resides in Florida. Robert Seven Crows made a surprise visit and tickled our ears with a true story

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FESTIVAL GLIMPSES Toronto Festival of Storytelling 2009

A Note From the Editor

Festival Glimpses... ................ 1 Nota Bene .......................... 2 From Jody’s Desk .................. 2 Chinese Clappertales ............... 7 Storytelling in Rural Schools ...... 8 BookNook .......................... 9

New Releases ...................... 10 Stories Goin’ Round ................ 11 Story Wit .......................... 11 Listings .............................. 12 Philosopher’s Corner ............... 13

People give so much of them-selves for so many reasons. And with the recent Festival it was abundantly clear that the success of the event was due to the dedication and

tremendous commitment on the part of Cathy Melville and her daughter Rebecca plus a hard working team of volunteers. There is a rumor going ‘round that storytellers only tell to other tellers. I believe one needs to look carefully at this kind of assumption. Let’s think of hockey

- can you tell it is playoff season as I write this. Hockey fans go to hockey games. It’s the same with any activity really. Those who enjoy basket weaving go to basket weaving and I can tell you that in Brockville there is an avid group that meets on a monthly basis. So it is fine that tellers support other tellers and enjoy going to storytelling events. From my observations there were many more newcomers to this years Fes-tival, especially for the community around the Wychwood Artscape Barns. We’ll never fill a hockey arena, nor is it our mandate. And it is unlikely that we will ever have a beer ad or donut chain supporting our endeavors. Yet we touch the hearts and minds of many with our love of the lore and that in itself is moti-vation enough for each of us to spin our tales whenever and wherever we can.

Louis Bird shares his wisdom and humour.

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**NOTA BENE** PIPPIN is the newsletter of

Storytelling Toronto The Storytellers School of Toronto is a registered, non-profit organization that provides a creative home for a community of storytellers,

listeners, and story-explorers. Our mission is to inspire, encourage and support storytelling for listeners, tellers and those who have not yet heard. Since 1979 we have been providing courses and workshops; holding gatherings, festivals and events to celebrate and present the art of storytelling; supporting the creative work of storytellers; and producing publications about storytelling and storytellers.

Pippin Editor Deborah Dunleavy

[email protected]

Design/Layout

chris cavanagh

Listings Marylyn Peringer

Program Leaders

Festival Director: Catherine Melville Resident Teachers: Marylyn Peringer, Lynda Howes

Directory: Bruce Carmody Legless Stocking: Lorne Brown, Catherine Melville

STORYFIRE: Catherine Melville

Website: Bruce Carmody [email protected]

Board of Directors 2008-2009

Karen Blair June Brown David Gladstone Paul Robert Hildy Stollery Molly Sutkaitis Tasleem Thawar

Office Director

Jody James

© Storytelling Toronto (formerly Storytellers School of Toronto)

Ph: 416-656-2445 Fax: 416-656-8510

www.storytellingtoronto.org

MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 501, 639 Dupont St.

Toronto On M6G 1Z4

STREET ADDRESS: Artscape Wychwood Barns

601 Christie St., Suite #173 Toronto On M6G 4C7

[email protected]

www.storytellingtoronto.org

Celebrate Toronto’s Creative Community Toronto Arts Council Foundation Now Accepting Nominations for 2009 Awards Toronto, April 23, 2009 -- Nominations are now being accepted for the 2009 Toronto Arts Council Foundation Awards which celebrate artists, cultural professionals and arts supporters from every creative discipline who have made significant contribu-tions to Toronto’s artistic and cultural life. Nomination forms, criteria and awards adjudication policies for the 2009 Toronto Arts Council Foundation Awards are avail-able at http://www.torontoarts.org/awards.html. The deadline for nominations is Friday, July 17, 2009 at 5 pm.

LIBRARY Now that we are in our new home, we have been organizing (thanks to the help of Celia), our resource library. Though there is still some more sorting to do, I hope to have it ready soon. This library will be focused as a re-source for storytellers. I am putting a call out to any member who has published a book of folktales, or books about sto-rytelling specifically (not fictional nov-els/picture books), that would like to donate a copy to the library. I can issue you a tax receipt for the donation, based on the cover price of the book.

BROCHURE RACK I have purchased a new magazine rack that can display brochures and flyers for professional members of Storytelling To-ronto. We can put them out when some-one’s here. If any of you who are in the Directory have a show coming up and have some extra flyers, please feel free to mail me some and I will put them on display. Please don’t mail me your business cards or general bro-chures detailing your services as I don’t have room for all of that.

FROM JODY’S DESK

2 Pippin - Spring 2009

http://www.torontoarts.org/awards.html�

about a time when his mother encountered a young bull moose. Two more tellers from Florida took to the stage. Lucrece Louisdhon-Louinis who was born in Haiti dazzled the audience with her drum, her smile and her trickster story. Nora Dominguez wrapped a spell around us with a Mexican folktale. Putting the finishing touches on this eclectic evening was the ever charming Ken Setterington whose rendition of a Dorothy Parker story had the audience sitting in a pool of laughter.

THE HORSES! – TALES by Hugh Lupton Review by Paul Robert Hugh came to this year’s Festival from the East Anglia region of England, with glorious tales of horses, bagpipers and you name it. “The Horses” evening included several sto-ries, ranging from the personal to the his-torical to the mythological. We learned how to take advice from the horse in the Fire-Bird piece, as there was always “worse to come”. And we met two English Kings on their horses in the one about the Fenn Lands, Charles I as he fled Cromwell and Charles II as he returned favours received by his father. Then there was Jenny Wing, who lived her long life through the first half of the 20th century, watching the horses disappear. Audiences seemed to truly enjoy Hugh’s tellings. He is fast paced, poetic and always keeps the story in focus and up front. He seems to know more words for various kinds of clothing than I own! Different small instruments are heard for transitions between stories or for intros to others. And, he even sings some tales!! With a wide range of content, from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and bundles of telling energies, Hugh stands out in any performance situation. I cer-tainly think him one of the ‘greats’!

1001 FRIDAY NIGHTS OF STORYTELLING

Review by Deborah Dunleavy A modest crowd came out on a windy, rainy Friday night to attend the legendary, long running storytelling series at the Walmer Centre. Unlike previous years where light

and lively tales are shared, this year there seemed to be a more somber mood. It is not an easy task to be a host. One wants to enlighten the audience without dominating the stage for too long a time. Efficiency, poise, and excellence of deliv-ery all set the tone and create a comfort level for both the listeners and the upcom-ing teller. Unfortunately there were mo-ments when this was lacking. The first teller of the night, Dale Jar-

vis, told a morbidly true and tragic story. And he told it well. But it did not inspire us to a light hearted evening which, to my rec-ollection, has always been the nature of the Friday night – a celebration and a coming together. Perhaps if it had been told later in the program we might not have felt so let down emotionally. Many of the tellers for the evening struggled to communicate in English. For

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A Haitian trickster tale told by Lucrece Louisdhon-Louinis.


each of them it was an act of bravery. I, myself, could not imagine trying to tell in a language foreign to my mother tongue. As a result the audience had to work extremely hard to catch the nuances of the stories. With tellers from Quebec, New Brunswick, Northern Ontario, Newfoundland, Alberta, Italy, England and Korea we were taken on a global ride through storytelling culture. There were gemstones that evening. Kathy Jessop from Edmonton lightened the atmosphere with her comical rendition of a Haitian folktale – the one where monkey asks Papa God for a case of misery. One of our guests from Italy tickled our fancy with the story of Toto the cook who, after an escapade with the King, comes up with the famous Marguerita Pizza. But the highlight of the evening for these ears and this heart of mine was Hugh Lupton’s ballad of young Billy. The lad falls in love with the beautiful Peggy Sue who works at the local fish and chip shop. Bor-rowing the traditional motif of the ring that gets swallowed by a fish, Lupton deliv-ered a delightful story in song to an audi-ence thirsty for some relief. Kelly Russell summed the evening up with one word “donch” – a Newfoundland term which means “sore from sitting too long”.

COBBLER, COBBLER MEND MY SHOES &

ORNERY & OUTSMARTED Review by Karen Waterman What could be more fun than listening to stories about cobblers and shoes at the Bata Shoe Museum, a perfect venue for the storytellers to spin their yarns? Filled with excited toddlers and parents, the room buzzed with anticipation for the artists to begin. The first presentation was called “Cobbler, Cobbler Mend my Shoes” and it featured experienced storytellers and nov-ice Satnam Parhar. They chose for their program many stories from around the world and interspersed poems, rhymes and finger plays. Their unison singing and chanting was very successful. The toddlers loved the audience participation and move-ment and I wish there had been more of it throughout the show.

There was great fun as the children joined in with “Little one, little one, how do you do? How is your stocking and how is your shoe?” and with “Shoe the wild horse and shoe the wild mare” but the easy flow of the first part of the show was inter-rupted by a confusing and abrupt ending to Satnam’s telling of the Punjabi story about a crow and a sparrow. Although she seemed quite nervous at first, her movement and chanting engaged the audience. This story was picked up again later in the program but it seemed out of place and unre-hearsed. Some of the transitions were un-clear and the storytellers needed to work out a better means of communicating with each other. Ruth Danzinger’s expressive face and rich deep voice made her riddles and sto-ries come alive. She was a pleasure to listen to. But the program was too long for the little ones and all of the storyteller’s needed to vary their stance from sitting to standing, incorporate more audience par-ticipation through repetition and call and response and using props, such as a bag of gold would have helped the children stay more fo-cused. In my opinion the last story should have been cut as the audience was noisy, wandering around and obviously spent. Sometimes it is necessary to deviate from the original pro-gram in order to end the performance on a high note. As these wonderful storytellers work to-gether more often, I’m sure that they will de-velop their rhythm and sensitivity to their audi-ence. Perhaps this show should be advertised to ages 3 and up. A highlight of the show was Lynda Howes very successful telling of “The Picarro Bird and the Taylor”. I would have liked to know more about the history of the story before she began and more audience participa-

tion could be incorporated to keep the au-dience engaged. All and all it was a delight-ful show to start the morning. The next performance “Ornery and Outsmarted” was a very funny, calculated, skilled and well orchestrated performance by Glenna Jansen. An outstanding, confi-dent and experienced storyteller, she kept the children on the edge of their seats for the whole time. Inviting them to sit close, she began with an Appalachian story called “The Good Girl and the Ornery Girl”. Her sense of hu-mour, expressive face, body and voice kept them focused on her and engaged. In fact, she kept them in the palm of her hand for forty minutes! Her clear instructions to “say what I say and do what I do” made it easy for the children to play finger games and learn the rhymes quickly. Her great skill in telling the Petite Jacques story had the audience laughing with delight. They loved the repetition of the story and giggled at the fact that Jacques was so foolish. The adults in the


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room were solidly with her too. Glenna had a way of making you believe that everything she told you was true! With a sense of wonder, the children sat and lis-tened attentively. Looking around the room, the audience all happily did the movements to the story of “The White Nanny Goat” and “Here’s a little boy and here’s his little bed, here is the pillow, where he lays his head”. My favourite story was a Danish folk-tale called “The Hudgen” in which a little gremlin like creature is very unhappy and keeps a shoemaker awake until he makes her a perfect bed. Glenna’s many voices as she captured the characters of the shoe-maker, the wise old woman and the Hudgen were delightful and made the story memo-rable. (In fact it inspired me to research other Danish folktales as soon as I got home!).

SATURDAY STORIES AT

THE BARNS Review by Deborah Dunleavy It was market morning at Artscape Wychwood Barns. Vendors with everything from eggs to muffins lined up inside the big hall. Seniors, parents with toddlers, and storytellers milled about. It was a perfect setting for a spectacular day at the festi-val. This was the first year to try out our

new space, to iron out the technical kinks, and to see how it would all come to-gether. I attended four events that day where the rooms were full. What more could we ask for? The stages were set up in such a way that the daylight made it difficult to look at the tellers and there was a problem at the Community Gallery with peo-ple coming in at the last min-ute and letting the cold air wafted into the studio. But all in all the Barns proved to be a perfect site for the Festival.

SPUNKY MONKEY AND MORE

With people arriving late, author and teller Laurel Dee Gugler managed to easily cap-ture the attentions of the wee ones on this

blustery Saturday morning. Laurel pos-sesses a soft-spoken manner and is a natu-ral with young audiences. The Community Gallery is not the most ideal space – the ceilings are high, the floor is made of concrete and the door to the room leads immediately to the outside ele-ments and noise. Yet Laurel held the chil-dren in the palm of her hand by inviting them to do call and response stories and actions to her playful repertoire.

MASAL : Tales on the Way

to the Silk Road Ariel Balevi transported his listeners to another time and place with two very rich stories. He made the forty-five minute set pass in an instant. One got the feeling that if this had been a coffee house in Turkey we gladly would have sat for more than three hours to hear one of his interwoven tales. At first it seemed that Ariel was bit uncomfortable but he soon warmed up to the audience as they did to him.

TUNES AND TALES WITH KELLY RUSSELL

Every once in a while you hear a teller who is so at home on the stage that it makes your heart soar. Kelly Russell fits the bill. A performer since his teen years, Kelly settles in right away with his audience. Kelly told us about the three “father’s” in his life starting first with Rufus who was born in 1899 in Newfoundland. He explained how Rufus held the fiddle under his right shoulder so that when he was sitting at his window practicing he could look out and see who was coming along the road. Then there was Emile who one night dreamed up a fiddle tune. Kelly skillfully played tunes by his two teachers which en-couraged much toe tapping and hand clap-ping amongst the audience. At the end of his session Kelly paid tribute to his own father, Ted Russell, who created the radio show with Uncle Mose of Pigeon Inlet. Kelly told the comical tale, Aunt Sophie’s Predicament.



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Hugh Lupton puts his spell on the audience

T.J. Tang tells at the Toronto Reference Library.

HUGH LUPTON AT THE BARNS There is something almost hypnotic about the manner and style of a polished teller like Hugh Lupton. His accent, articulation, enunciation, clarity and presence had us all under his storytelling spell. To hear stories as familiar as Tom Tit Tot told with such eloquence and depth of vocabulary rejuvenates them to a brand new level of pleasure. Even the farting pig’s bladder with the comical sound effects seemed perfectly fitting! Seldom does anyone on this side of the Atlantic deliver a Robin Hood story with such mastery as Hugh Lupton does. His sto-ries and songs were rich in colour and tone - a verbal palette created by a true story-telling artist.

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE FESTIVAL

Zari, a three piece vocal ensemble special-izing in traditional music form the Republic of Georgia opened two storytelling sets for the couple of hundred story listening afi-cionados who came to hear Paola Balbi from Italy, Hugh Lupton from England and Louis Bird from Northern Ontario.

The Tellers The diverse tellers entertained, engaged and transported our imaginations to far away places and distant times. The first to sit at the microphone was Louis Bird and he was having a wonderful time. He shared two short comical tales with the audience and then spun a tale about an attempt to snare the sun, a legend which explains why cer-tain animals such as marten, squirrel, mouse and shrew are the way that they are. Louis embraces the true meaning of authenticity. There is no pretention. No tricks of the trade. Just pure storytelling. Ecstatic and energetic teller Paola Balbi appropriately chose to tell two light-hearted stories, one about a contest be-tween Jesuit and Franciscan priests, the other about a beautiful young woman who enters the nunnery and invites a young man to her room. Hugh Lupton brought the audience to their feet with a standing ovation for his rendition of three tales, one from Scot-

land, a second from Ireland and a third from Wales. Brilliant, amazing and fantas-tic!

The Music Imagine monastic chanting, mountain yodel-ing and skat singing combined. What you have are the vocal acrobatics of the music trio known as Zari. The audience was swept along with their musical depths of sorrow and heights of splendor as their singing

filled the Walmer Centre that night. One member of the audience called out, “What is the story of the songs?” This was a valid question since the words were in an ancient language that perhaps only the singers understood. Yet, the singers only answered that sometimes there is a story and sometimes it is just syllables and non-sense. What a shame they did not tell us the stories behind the songs. This is after all a storytelling festival. The listener might have imagined stories or like myself sit transfixed by Zari’s musical mastery. “This is like Gregorian chants meeting Bobby McFerrin,” I whispered to a companion. Only by purchasing the CD was I able to appreciate the content of these mysterious harmonies. As the liner notes point out, “One cannot help but notice the earthly passion, exuberance and melancholic long-ing.” The stories behind the folk songs range from that of Magtovia, where a young man

discovers the magnitude of his love, to Chari Rama where the singer mourns for his lost love and the death of a family member. Other songs are playful by nature and are actually sung in competitions. The robust polyphonic singing dates back to the 7th century. Still the vibrancy of the music resonates for modern day lis-teners. Like a well told tale or a well woven fabric, the well sung song brings its own special meaning that transcends the bor-ders of time.

While Zari did not “tell” the stories, their expert performance took us to a magical place

FESTIVAL FOOTNOTE At this year's Toronto Festival of Story-telling, Rachel James, a volunteer broad-caster at Community radio station CIUT, interviewed several people for a 13-minute segment of the morning show Take 5. This segment was broadcast in April, and a copy of the podcast is now available at http://www.1001fridays.org/Media. The broadcast features visiting storytellers Dale Gilbert Jarvis and Kathy Jessup, who discuss their work, and storytelling organizer Howard Kaplan, who discusses 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling.

FESTIVAL 2010 Let’s welcome Debra Baptiste back as Ar-tistic Director for 2010.


Dale Jarvis from Newfoundland.

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by Bernice Gei-ying Hune When I received the 2008 Alice Kane re-search award from the Storytelling To-ronto, it enabled me to learn about Chinese clappertales. I need only close my eyes and see again my mother, poised on stage. When her singing turns into spoken words, the wooden clapping sounds begin to beat and beat and beat. My mother came to Can-ada as a member of a Chinese Opera com-pany, so I started with a childish and intui-tive understanding of the use of wooden clapping sounds in a traditional opera. Chinese opera is a stylized and opu-lent art form. Cos-tumes and faces are elaborately painted, performers’ are trained in mime, dance and martial arts; the sounds of various instruments fill the theatre to accompany the sing-ing arias and spoken verses. Whenever a performer uses a speaking voice, there is an accented beat or BAN in the verse. One voice speaking in verse accompanied by the single beat of a wooden hollow sound is very mesmerizing. I began my research at the library. The beat or BAN had various tempos and each tempo has a specific name. KUAI is a fast beat. Stories with clappers are told on a ‘fast board’ and are called KUAI BAN. I found that most of the writing about KUAI BAN pertained to traditional opera, with only a passing reference to storytelling. While the opera was performed in a thea-tre with program announcements and re-views of renowned actors, the stories told in tea houses or in market squares were not considered noteworthy. While some per-formers may have had a popular following like a vaudeville act, others were consid-ered itinerant tellers – hawking wares with stories – bussing in the streets. Because it

is a considered a folk art the KUAI BAN storytellers were likely the lucky ones dur-ing the years of cultural upheaval in China. On the internet, I could find more in-formation about KUAI BAN as it pertains to storytelling. I viewed performers, re-corded live from the Beijing Lao She tea-house. Are these traditional recitations from contemporary performers? The cam-era records the rapid movement as the hands flash the clappers –disappearing out of sight or flashing over the head in dra-

matic postures. Isn’t this performer making modern day patter and this clapper style is even fancier and faster than the last per-former! The quality of picture recordings vary, but the sound of audience applause can always be heard. I also found one sam-ple of KUAI BAN where school children are neatly dressed using two sticks (rather than seven) for their recitation.

YouTube has younger performers – a hipster style, a genre of Chinese rap is emerging. I saw two guys with earrings dual it out with flying hands and rapid-fire speech. Some of the young appear to be foreign students studying in China. And surely one performer is a comic too for the audience is laughing loudly. Most are in Mandarin and I speak Cantonese.

You can buy clappers in metal, wood or bamboo online too. I made my purchase at Musideum, a Toronto store that carries musical instruments from all over the world. I was hoping to find the name of someone who could get me started. No luck there, nor with my inquiries at various cul-tural centres or community associations in the Toronto area. Of course, I dreamt of traveling to British Columbia to meet Dr. Jan Walls and Kate Stevens. I would have timed the visit

for the eve of Chinese New Year’s for that was when Dr. Jan Walls was performing in Van-couver. He is a retired professor of Chinese language and tells clap-per tales in Mandarin and English. Then I would have visited Kate Stevens who has re-tired in Victoria. Her clappertale version of “How LiJi Killed the Snake” is based on the original tale by Gan Bao as recorded in his book In Search of Spirits (Sou Shen Ji); it is available online through StorySave. In the end, I taught myself to hold the bamboo pieces by

freezing the frame on my computer screen. Now hitting the beat was another matter! My tempo was not only uneven but slow- MAN BAN is like molasses, definitely not a nimble KUAI beat. It has occurred to me that even with practice, practice, practice I might never ever get invited to any festi-val hall. From time to time, I would speak with Kate Stevens on the telephone. Kate is a former professor of Chinese literature. We agreed that every language has its own beauty. Kate would say that the English rhythm of speech would give us iambic pen-tameter and that the Chinese rhythm would lead to a Tang poem. I cannot have had such conversations


CHINESE CLAPPERTALES Pippin - Spring 2009 7

TELLER: DEBORAH DUNLEAVY As I sat on my chair in the library of John XXIII School I was exactly eye level with the kindergarten children who had formed a circle around me to say thank you in the most loving and innocent way that only four and five year olds can do. My heart melted. At the same school a group of grade six students had me in stitches because they were get-ting all the inside jokes of the fool stories I told them. Laughter ruled. It reminded of something that Wang Ken the 4th century Chinese philosopher wrote, “No pleasure, no learning; no learning, no pleasure.” My learning was enormous as was the pleasure I had in taking the stories to these rural schools in the upper reaches of Eastern Ontario. I had initially set out on January 18 with what I thought was cold. By the time I tried to tell my first story to the first group I had developed laryngitis – a teller’s nightmare.

I looked at the children and the teach-ers and squeaked out in a sandpaper sort of voice, “Wouldn’t you like me to come back when I can speak?” Thankfully the schools

were all able to set up new dates although I had to do the Renfrew schools one week and the Arnprior and Calabogie schools the following week.

From JK to grade 8 every group was attentive, interested, enthusiastic and respectful. What more could one ask for? The teachers expressed sincere appre-ciation and it was a treat to say things in the stories that were little in jokes for them. In one story I quipped, “All that was left were frog prints, not to be con-fused with the frog prince – that’s another story.” These small rural schools nor-mally cannot afford to have an artist visit. I am particularly re-minded of St. Joseph’s in Calabo-gie where there are less than 80 students in the whole school. Hav-ing a teller come was a big deal and you could just see the anticipation in their faces. Thanks to this pro-gram Storytelling Toronto is able to reach out to those who greatly need, deserve and appreciate the opportunity.

with another teller in Ontario, so getting to know Kate is a vermillion thread that I treasure. Our talks go beyond clappertales. Thanks to Jan Andrews at StorySave, for recording “Traditional Chinese Tales”, and for making some of Kate Stevens’ writing available to me when I visited Ottawa. The beat of the clapper is only part of the performance; there is the simultaneous recitation of a rhythmic verse. To find, a story to tell in English is a genuine dilemma for me. The Chinese language is monosyl-labic; the variations are in the tones, so the same spoken word sound can have more than one meaning. It invites the listener to partake in a wit that may verge on slapstick for the mind. I do not think that the Eng-lish language will ever have the equivalent, but another teller who feels an affinity to limericks may be a bit closer to resolving this dilemma.

I did venture to take the clappers to the Pearl China Cultural Camp. The campers were all adopted as babies from China, the girls all had turns with the clappers. Sore knuckles became a part of the camp fun as we rehearsed a presentation for their

families. Although my beat was not fast enough to be KUAI BAN, the BAN was the right tempo for the performers. Of course the audience was delighted with the per-formance - their daughters basked in the final applause, I joined them on the stage with my bamboo clappers. The Alice Kane research award has been a wonderful opportunity for profes-sional development. It brought me back to the sound of the Chinese language and I am able to turn some very special memories into new stories. The Alice Kane Award is an annual award presented by Storytelling Toronto in mem-ory of Alice Kane (1908 – 2003). One of the co-founders of StorytellingToronto, Alice was a much beloved storyteller whose mas-tery of the art of storytelling made her an inspiration to all.


STORYTELLING IN RURAL SCHOOLS

RENFREW COUNTY DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD


BookNook

Ted Russell (ed. Elizabeth Miller)Chronicles of Uncle Mose. Flanker Press, P.O. Box 2522, Sta. C, St. John's, NL A1C 6K1; 1-866-739-4420; [email protected]; www.flankerpress.com Review by Robert Rodriguez When Jim Payne and Kelly Russell at-tended CDSS’s Pinewoods Camp as mem-bers of staff in the summer of 1988, it was a real treat to be immersed, at least for one week, in the music, song, folklore, tradi-tions and storytelling customs of Newfoundland. During one of these sessions, Kelly Russell in-troduced us all to the storytelling work of his father, the legendary CBC broadcaster Ted Russell, and thus we all became acquainted with the tales involving the folks and doings of the fictional com-munity of Pigeon Inlet. We all sat spellbound as he related, in such stories as “Geese”, “Stealin’ the Holes”, “Hockey”, “Algebra Slip-pers” and “Smokeroom on the Kyle”, tales of such beloved Pi-geon Inlet characters as Grandpa Walcott, Sol Noddy, and even the lovable, irreverent goat known as King David. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Ted Russell’s daughter, Eliza-beth Miller, the world of Pigeon Inlet once again comes to full and wonderful life in this very impres-sive collection of 75 stories from Russell’s repertoire of several hundred that he related in his eight years of weekly CBC broad-casts from 1953 to 1961. It is to Miller’s credit that she has cho-sen stories that would not be too localized or specialized and would be appreciated by those outside the fishing milieu of the Newfoundland outports, which Russell knew with much more than a passing acquaint-ance. In her introductory comments, Miller tells us that, although Pigeon Inlet was fictional, it nonetheless mirrored the countless communities up and down the

Newfoundland coast, with which Russell was quite familiar in his travels as a teacher for four decades, locales such as Fogo, Har-bour Breton, Pass Island and Coley’s Point, among others. The same of course goes for other places mentioned in the tales, such as Hartley’s Harbour and Muldoon’s Cove, whose inhabitants were both friendly to

and rivals with the good folks of Pigeon Inlet. And throughout all these tales, the stalwart figure of Uncle Mose stands tall as a master spinner of yarns filled with wry humour, wit, verbal jabs filled with satirical intent, and so much more. What comes across in all of these stories is the deep love and respect Russell had for the ways and traditions of the people residing in

these communities, in the face of constant change and modernization that intruded into these areas in the first half of the Twentieth Century. These are not outsid-ers or strangers making fun of the locals in a disparaging manner, but the Pigeon Inleters themselves commenting on and often making sport of their own way of life,

without ever denigrating their time-honoured customs and way of do-ing things. While these are not folk or fairy-tales in the classic or lit-eral sense of these terms, in all true particulars they are in fact stories of the folk of these often isolated and remote Newfoundland communities, and are as genuine as the very soil of Newfoundland and as deeply rooted in the culture and traditions of the island itself. Pigeon Inleters know how to go that extra mile in telling a good yarn, and a number of these stories enter the realm of the tall tale or “blanket stretcher” where credibil-ity is concerned, as certainly evi-denced by such delightful yarns as “Geese”, “Smokeroom on the Kyle”, “Potatoes”, or the story in which it is related how one winter it got so cold in Pigeon Inlet that molasses froze, making it easier to convey it from one locale to another by someone intent on increasing his supply of the precious commodity in preparation for the oncoming win-ter. Grandpa Walcott’s aerial mis-adventure with a flock of geese heading south to Florida, Jamaica, or wherever geese go for the win-ter, is a particularly hilarious exam-ple of this form of narrative fancy,

and Russell is a master at this genre. Another personal favourite is the previ-ously-mentioned “Stealin’ the Holes”, in which the legal system is handled Pigeon Inlet style, to the delight of all involved. Every subject is grist for the storyteller’s mill in Pigeon Inlet, where it is the pros and cons of modern television, the value of a


The Chronicles of Uncles Mose


good education, elections and their out-comes, or whether rabbits or beavers are the more stupid of woodland creatures. History itself is not immune from local comment, as in the tale in which it is de-bated whether John Cabot did indeed dis-cover Newfoundland. Even literary classics meet their match, as when we hear Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe or the biblical story of Jonah and the whale retold in

Grandpa Walcott’s own downhome manner. Reading this wonderful collection of Pigeon Inlet tales indeed took me back to that summer of 1988 when Kelly Russell brought the world of the Newfoundland outports to wondrous life in his own retel-lings of his father’s stories. I once said, in another context, that Newfoundlanders sure know how to spin a good yarn, and need not take a back seat to anyone where this art is concerned. Story lovers owe Eliza-

beth Miller a great deal of thanks for keeping her father’s narrative legacy very much alive and introducing the world of Pigeon Inlet to those previously unfamiliar with this fictional community. This volume of Newfoundland stories comes very highly recommended.

Robert Rodriquez, New York, New York [This review first appeared in Canadian Folk Music, vol. 41, no. 2 (Summer 2007)].


SEASHELL SING A SONG TO ME – Traditional Songs and Rhymes for Young Listeners

Singer storyteller and children’s librarian Theo Heras brings us a delightful new col-lection of rhymes and songs that whisk the listener off to the beach with “sand castle to build, gulls to chase, shells to collect, stones to skip”. CD with 23 tracks, 26:14 minutes; comes with booklet. $20. To order contact Theo at [email protected] or call 416-654-7784 THE QUEEN OF PARADISE’S GARDEN – A traditional Newfoundland Tale adapted by Andy Jones and illustrated by Darka Erdelji. Andy Jones’s wonderful new adap-tation of this traditional Newfoundland tale

is retold in a manner that captures the musical quality of the Newfoundland dialect while Darka Erdelji’s stunning illustrations are at once otherworldly, wistful and playful. Avail-able from Running the Goat Books & Broadsides for $18.95. ISBN 978-0-9737578-3-5

Ted Russell. Tales from Pigeon Inlet: PIP-7336 (3-CD set). Pigeon Inlet Produc-tions, P.O. Box 461, Bell Island, NL A0A 4H0 [email protected]; www.pigeoninlet.com In his nearly three-quarters of a cen-tury, Ted Russell’s life took on many ex-traordinary aspects: teacher, magistrate, politician, legendary CBC broadcaster and, perhaps most important of all, a true mas-ter storyteller and writer. To hear Rus-sell’s own voice relating these delightful and enchanting chronicles of Uncle Mose and Pigeon Inlet is like entering a narra-tive time machine and winding up in an-other time place far removed from the contemporary world. We are transported back to a way of life that, according to Kelly Russell and Elizabeth Miller, has virtually disappeared, and whose legacy is that of its own magical originator, Ted Russell himself. Using modern digital technology, Kelly

Russell has chosen 30 classic tales from Russell’s hundreds of broadcast scripts, transferring them from quarter-inch tapes found in a warehouse in Halifax in the 1980s, and digitally remastering them into the present CD format. Once more the fabled and memorable community of Pigeon Inlet magically comes to life, with all the wonderful and beloved characters who CBC radio listeners heard between 1953 and 1962. Such is the authenticity of this recording that on Disc 1, even before we hear Russell tell the first story, “Aunt Sophy’s Predicament”, Kelly has managed to include CBC broadcaster Harry Brown’s regular weekly introduction to the broad-casts, as well as Bob McLeod’s theme mu-sic, played on the organ. In the words of a noted Irish story-teller, even if it never happened, it’s al-ways true. The community of Pigeon Inlet can be found nowhere on a map of New-foundland, but in every sense of the word

Tales from Pigeon Inlet

“community”, Pigeon Inlet is as real as the soil and the cultural traditions that have been the bulwark of this Canadian prov-ince for nearly half a millennium. In his many years as both a teacher and a magis-trate, Ted Russell knew countless outports and isolated locales up and down the rug-ged Newfoundland coast, places such as Harbour Breton, Pass Island, Coley’s Point and Fogo, which would collectively become the embodiment of Pigeon Inlet.

NEW RELEASES


BANJO PICKIN BLUES

I had a thoroughly enjoyable 8-week gig with the cognitive

unit of Sunnybrook's Hospital's veterans' wing. I told them

stories and sang them old songs.

One week, as I was tuning my banjo prior to the session,

I heard a vet near the back say to his caregiver, "Is that a

banjo?" I was quite pleased to hear the question, even

though I've been playing it every week for them, because

their memory is not all that good, but at least he recog-

nized a banjo.

"Yes," replied the caregiver, "That's a banjo."

"Then I'm leaving," replied the vet. And he did!

Submitted by Lorne Brown who is still playing his banjo.

WORLD STORYTELLING DAY - OS-HAWA: Two concerts were held in Oshawa on March 17 as a partnership between the Durham Folklore Society and the North-view Oshawa Public Library. Tellers in-cluded Dianne Chandler, Doris Cherkas, Enid DeCoe, Graham Ducker, Marg Kropf and Heather Whaley. CAMBRIDGE: Carol Leigh Wehking and Glenna Janzen joined storytelling forces for a night of delightful dining and telling at the O’Keefe Cottage Café, March 20. BADEN: The Baden Story-tellers Guild held a benefit for Doctors without Borders on March 21 as their con-tribution to World Storytelling Day. FROM HOME TO ROME: Friday, March 20 was World Storytelling Day, with this year's theme being "Neighbours". To cele-brate, 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling shared an Italian-Canadian story exchange with Raccontamiunastoria in Rome. In To-ronto, Mariella Bertelli told two Italian tales in English, while nine regular partici-pants told English versions of very short Inuit tales, seven of which had been spe-cially learned for the celebration over the preceding ten days. Meanwhile, in Rome, storytellers learned two of the same Inuit stories plus another Canadian story from Mariella's repertoire, for presentation in

Italian on the same evening. A CHILDRENS CEILIDH was held on March 21 at the Pegasus Studio. A lively concert of story, song, and rhyme was led by Carol Aston, Sally Jaegar, Wendy Tinker, Kelly Hood, Melanie James and Grace Law. ON THE AIR WAVES: Dan Yashinsky took to the airwaves again on Sunday, April 8. Tapestry on CBC Radio One featured Dan sharing his experience as a storytelling father in the neo-natal intensive care unit at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children. OUT WEST: Carol Leigh Wehking put a magical spin on her stories for an apprecia-tive gathering at the Goyana Yoga lounge In Kelowna On April 22. A WEEKEND EAST OF THE SUN: On April 25 and 26, storyteller and author Michelle Tocher held a weekend of explora-tion and magic based on this powerful fairytale. EARTH DAY CELEBRATION: On April 25 Hildy Stollery, April Nicole, Laura Alary and Hugh Donnelly teamed up for a CASC Concert called “A Barrel Full Of Monkeys”

which was held at the Ralph Thornton Cen-tre. INUIT TELLER: On May 7, 2009 the BRANT TALETELLERS GUILD presented storyteller and award-winning writer of picture books for children, Michael Kusugak in a storytelling performance at the Sher-wood Restaurant in Brantford. Michael grew up in the small Inuit community of Repulse Bay at the top of Hudson Bay, right on the Arctic Circle. He now lives in Rankin Inlet, on the west coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavut. He told stories he heard every night when he was little and his family trav-elled by dogsled, hunting and fishing. WORD OF MOUTH recipient Harriet Xan-thakos has been sharing stories--folk and fairy tales, Greek myths and family stories (sometimes combing the two) for more than fifteen years. She feels most connected and most vulnerable when telling her family stories. "I feel as though I am taking a risk. I enjoy the challenge of following the thread I have chosen to follow while at the same time experiencing new possibilities." As a recipient of The Ontario Arts Council Word of Mouth Program, Harriet will cre-ate a show of her family stories.

STORIES GOING ‘ROUND

STORY WIT WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

After a very special storytelling

encounter with a group of grade one

students, I paused to look out at the

sea of happy faces. I said to the

teacher, “I wonder where the time

went?” “Up there,” said a bright little

boy, pointing to the clock on the wall.

Submitted by Deborah Dunleavy


CASC (Canadian Association of Storytellers for Children) continues its concert series for children and their families, A Barrel of Stories, on Saturday, May 30, 1:30-2:30pm, with Stories Big and Small, featuring Sally Jaeger, Joan Bailey, and special guest Erika Webster. At Ralph Thornton Centre, 765 Queen St. E., Toronto. $5, or pwyc. Info: Carol Ashton, (416) 699-2608, or [email protected]

The Legless Stocking presents O Canada! Celebrating Canada in Story and Song. Sat. June 6, 7:30pm. Featured are Jerry Gray of the Travellers, Donna Stewart, Deborah Dunleavy, Howard Kaplan, Lorne Brown. $20 or $15 before May 28. At the Butler’s Pan-try, 591 Markham St., Toronto. Doors open at 6pm for dinner. Tickets: (416) 656-2445 or email [email protected]

GATHERINGS

PERFORMANCES

1,000 Friday Nights of Storytelling con-tinues every Friday evening at 8pm at the Innis College Café, Sussex Ave. and St. George St., Toronto. Suggested donation $5. Open to all who wish to listen or tell. (416) 656-2445, www.1001fridays.org

Baden Second Story Workshop, aka The Story Barn, meets the first Friday of the month. At 8:00pm, 89 Snyders Rd.W. Info: Mary-EileenMcClear, [email protected]

Storytelling Guild meets in Baden once a month on the third Friday, 7:30-10pm. 89 Snyders Rd W. Info: Mary-Eileen McClear, [email protected]

The Dufferin Circle of Storytellers meets the first Thursday of the month, 7:30pm. Info: Nancy Woods, (519)925-0966.

The Brant Taletellers Guild, welcomes tellers and listeners to its monthly gather-ings September to June, 7pm, on the first Wednesday at the Brantford Public Library, Colborne St. Info: talesbizbrant.com, email [email protected] or phone (519) 756-0727

St. Mary’s Storytelling Guild meets the fourth Thursday of the month at the public library, 7-8:30pm. The Storytelling Circle for children 10 and older meets on the 2nd Friday at St. Mary’ United Church, 85 Church St., 7-9pm. $2. Info: Nancy Ver-mond, (519) 284-2698, [email protected]

The Durham Folklore Society meets every third Thursday, 7:30-9:30pm at the Oak Room, Northview Community Centre, 150 Beatrice St. E., Oshawa. Info: Dianne Chan-dler, (905) 985-3424.

The 1000 Islands Yarnspinners meet the third Monday of the month from October to June at 7pm at the Brockville Museum, 5 Henry Street. Info: Deborah Dunleavy (613) 342-3463, [email protected]

Cercle de conteurs de l’Est de l’Ontario (CCEO) se réunit le 4ème mardi du mois au

Summer School Intensive: taught by Marylyn Peringer. This four-day storytelling course for beginner and experienced storytellers provides a unique opportunity to receive per-sonal instruction in the art of storytelling, visit famous story collections, and meet a va-riety of tellers from the Toronto storytelling



Listings — Spring 2009 MIFO, 6600 rue Carrière, Orléans, à juin. Venez tout simplement entendre et savourer; osez conter, si vous désirez. Info: [email protected]

The Hamilton Storytelling Circle meets the third Monday of the month, 7:30-9pm. Info: Barry Rosen, [email protected]

The Guelph Guild of Storytellers meets the first Wednesday of each month, 7:30pm at the Cooperators Building, MacDonnel St., and the second Wednesday.at 8pm for Stories at the Boathouse, a tea room on the river, Gordon St. Info: Sandy, (519) 767-0017

The Montreal Storytellers Guild meets the fourth Tuesday of the month at the West-mount Library. Info: Christine Mayr, [email protected]

Lots of advance notice for this one! The next CASC Talking Pot takes place Saturday, October 3, 1-4pm, at the Story Barn, 89 Snyders Rd. W. in Baden. (519) 634-8973, [email protected]. Information sharing, rhyme, song and story swap, brows-ing in the Barn’s extensive library, book sale. Members $10, non-members $15. $10 extra will get you a ride, as CASC plans a full-day trip, sightseeing and lunching at St.Jacob’s on the way to Baden. Info: Carol Ashton, (416) 699-2608, [email protected]

STORYTELLING TORONTO

Info: (416) 656-2445 www.storytellingtoronto.org, [email protected]

CASC’s 7th Annual Great Big Enormous Sto-rytelling Day takes place Saturday, June 13, 1-3pm, with a hillside concert for children and their families. At Riverdale Farm, 201 Winchester St., Toronto. Info: Carol Ashton, (416) 699-2608,www.storytellersforchildren.ca

Tongues Wagging Productions Storytelling (Caroleigh Wehking and Glenna Janzen) as part of the Spotlight Festival will present Feel Like A Morning Star! Storytelling in the Family, an interactive event for families with children six and under. June 7, 3-5pm at the Charitable Research Reserve, 1679 Blair Road, Cambridge. Admission free. Space limited, registration required by June 7. Info: Caroleigh or Glenna, (519) 623-2456, [email protected]

Feel Like a Morning Star! Storytelling in the Family — Tongues Wagging Produc-tions Storytelling presents a participatory and interactive event with Carol Leigh Wehking and Glenna Janzen, for families with young children 6 and under featuring family stories, folktales, rhymes, songs, bedtime stories and more. Come for the fun! Take home stories!

Part of the SpOtlight Festival, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Culture and pro-duced by the Ontario Arts Council.

7 June 2009. 3-5 p.m. at rare Charitable Research Reserve, 1679 Blair Rd., Cam-bridge Free. Limited space; Registration required by 5 June. Contact Caroleigh or Glenna: 519-623-2456 or [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]�




Every Friday night since 1978 sto-rytellers and listeners have been

gathering in downtown To-ronto. Each evening is hosted by an accomplished storyteller. Any-

one is welcome to tell a story.

Every Friday night is unique. Suggested donation: $5.00 Time: 8:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Innis College Café 2 Sussex Street, Toronto.

(corner St. George, one block south of Bloor St. W. St. George Subway - St. George St. exit)

www.1001fridays.org

The Storytellers School of Toronto gratefully acknowledges the support of the following government agencies:

What’s new in your storytelling circle? Have you discovered a gem of wisdom in a story that relates to your own life? Did a child share some wisdom and wonder at one of your telling events? Do you have a new book or CD to celebrate? Do you have a gripe to pick with un-ethical presenters? PIPPIN is your sounding board and we’d love to hear from you. Next deadline for submission is Au-gust 01 and any-time sooner! Send to Deborah at [email protected]

This year, the annual St.Marys Storytelling Festival takes place Saturday and Sunday, June 5 and 6, with two themes: Frogs and The Environment. Featured storyteller will be Bob Barton. Besides taking part in the evening concert, Bob will give a workshop Saturday morning, 9:30-11:30am, titled "How Do I Tell This Story?" at St.James Anglican Church,65 Church St., St.Mary's. Registration $35 at the door. To confirm workshop attendance, contact Nancy Ver-mond, (519) 284-2698, [email protected]

Much has been written and espoused about the “art of storytelling”. In this new section of Pippin our long time layout and design editor, chris cavanaugh, shares some gemstones on this subject. To kick things off here is a quote from "Storytelling for Our Lives" by chris cavanagh in Pippin: The Newslet-ter of the Storytellers School of Toronto, Vol.6, #2 - Fall into Winter 1998-1999, p.4. Storytelling's antiquity and apparent simplicity are a tricky mat-ter. On the one hand, the power of storytelling is very accessible to anyone who takes a few seconds to reflect on their experience in order to recount it to a listener. On the other, the apparent simplicity of storytelling belies the many levels of skill that are achievable in this ancient form of communication. Storytellers, by the very act of telling, communicate a radical learning - a learning that changes lives and the world: telling stories is a universally accessible means through which people make meaning. Whether it be a child returning home from school to tell a parent what hap-pened that day, a reporter broadcasting a breaking news story, a scared and lonely wanderer looking for a warm hearth or a pro-fessional who recites six hours of Homer's Odyssey.

PHILOSOPHER’S CORNER

community. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, July 9-11, 10am-5pm; Sunday July 12, noon-5pm at the Church of St. George the Mar-tyr, 197 John St., Toronto. Fee: $375. Info: (416) 656-2445, www.storytellingtoronto.org

FESTIVALS

WHATS UP?








From ghoulish tales and vampire frights to an Irish heroine and folktale delights, this year’s Festival of Sto-rytelling (FOS) is a mixture of something for everyone. Vampires have definitely catapulted their way up the popularity ladder recently and to pay homage to their success, FOS is hosting a youth night. KISS OF THE VAM-PIRE and OTHER BLOODY TALES will feature bone-chilling stories that may have you scrambling for the lights. FOS welcomes popular teller ADWOA BADOE. Adwoa has been writing and telling stories for years. She has pub-lished several children’s books and takes pride in enter-taining audiences. A love of dance has led her to teach different forms of movement from her native Africa. Kicking off the festival, on Thursday at 10 a.m., is the CRABGRASS PUPPET THEATRE’S production of ANANSI, SPIDERMAN OF AFRICA – a colorful African folktale pup-pet show being held in the BCI Auditorium. This educa-tional performance is suitable for grades 1 - 4. Longtime storyteller, MARY-EILEEN MCCLEAR joins FOS to regale her audience with IN HER OWN WORDS: The Loves and Adventures of an Irish Heroine. Recently fea-tured at the National Arts Centre, Mary-Eileen comes to the Brockville Museum Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. Seat-ing is limited and the cost is $8 at the door. Later that evening from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m., the Brockville

Museum will be the setting for a night of spooky stories and urban legends. KISS OF THE VAMPIRE and OTHER BLOODY TALES features the 1000 ISLAND YARNSPINNERS and SPECIAL GUESTS. Tickets are $8 at the door, or come dressed as a vampire or Goth and get in for $5. Saturday morning is all about workshops at the Brock-ville Museum. From 9 a.m. – 10:15 a.m., MARY-EILEEN MCCLEAR introduces ONCE UPON THE TRUTH – a work-shop that shows how to bring history alive through storytelling. From 10:45 a.m. – noon, ADWOA BADOE presents RHYTHM OF THE STORYLINES – a workshop devoted to dance, movement and music for storytelling. The cost is $10 each or $15 for both. ADWOA BADOE returns to the Brockville Museum at 2 p.m. for POT OF WISDOM – an afternoon of African folktales for the whole family. Tickets are $5 for a sin-gle and $15 for four. Join hosts DEBORAH DUNLEAVY and PETER MELEG that evening at 8 p.m. for MUSIC, MYRTH AND MISCHIEF at the Green Door Bed and Breakfast. Tickets are $15. Seating is limited. Please reserve in advance: 613-341-9325.

FOS – FESTIVAL OF STORYTELLING takes place September 24 – 26, 2009

The Brockville Museum is located at 5 Henry Street, Brockville.

Information: 613-342-3463 or [email protected]

THE 1000 ISLANDS YARNSPINNERS presents

FOS - FESTIVAL OF STORYTELLING

September 24 – 26, 2009


Documents

Pippin 1 - Storytelling Toronto - Storytelling Toronto