Here We Come !

Eth-Noh-Tec and the World Storytelling Institute Invite You to a World of Indian Storytelling

Join Us: November 1-16, 2008

Temple Spire

Eth-Noh-Tec's Nancy Wang and Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo (of California, USA) will lead a delegation of storytellers, story lovers and artists to Chennai, the vibrant coastal capital of Tamil Nadu, South India, where we will be hosted by the Chennai-based World Storytelling Institute, led by Eric Miller.

Chennai began as a fishing village. We will be story-listening and storytelling with people in Chennai's seafishing communities, and with people in villages in the countryside. We will participate in workshops led by professional storytellers, and will visit ancient temples by the seashore.

"Tharisanam: Vision of the Other," is the theme of our journey, as we share our cultures as ordinary people in extraordinary ways, in story swaps formal and informal. Among the story and story-related arts we will be exposed to, and will have a chance to begin to learn to perform, are:

  • Kathaiyum Pattum (Story and Song): Storytelling in the home
  • Villupattu (Bow Songs): A professional folk form of storytelling
  • Hari Katha (Katha Kalak Chebam): An orthodox Hindu form of storytelling about divine figures
  • Therukoothu: Street theater
  • Oppari: Lament songs

India: Trula Storyteller

Irula tribesmen telling stories to a visitor

Prepare to hear in Tamil "O-ru ka-lat-thi-le, O-ru o-ru-le...": "In those days, in a certain place..." Indeed, we will hear many tales: male-centered and women-centered tales; animal tales; tales about fate, demons, gods and goddesses, and heroes and heroines; humorous tales and stories about stories.

India: Oppari Singers

Women singing Oppari Ballads

Join us in this exciting people-to-people and story-to-story adventure to one of the oldest continuous civilizations of our world! We are taking the "country road," the oral story tradition both sung and spoken. This has been a source not only of India’s "Great Traditions," but also, it is said, even of Greece’s "Oedipus" and Shakespeare’s "King Lear." We will be privy to folk tales that have been passed along by family members and villagers from one generation to the next, for thousands of years. Many of these stories have never seen the pages of a book.

Price for the Trip: $3800-$4200

Includes:

  • Tickets from final departure points in the U.S. to Chennai, India
  • Lodging and Meals
  • Ground transportation in Chennai
  • Tours

Please send in the full amount along with registration form to hold your place. Check payable to "Eth-Noh-Tec" and note "India Trip" in the memo. Please note cancellation charge is $500.

More about Chennai

Wikitravel
Chennaibest
Travel Tamil Nadu

Nearby Destinations

Mahabalipuram
DakshinaChitra

Visa Information

India Visa Center

Questions? contact@ethnohtec.org

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