Click on these thumbnails
for larger pictures of traditional storytellers, mainly carriers of the ancient
oral tradition engaged in bardic storytelling. Genuine bards do still exist in
many cultures, though each has their own term for this highly refined and deeply
spiritual discipline, where none may call themselves as such without initiation
and long traditional training, not to mention mastery of epics and many other
stories.
The power of these bardic tellers is breathtaking, and quite beyond most people's
experience of storytelling. It is a privilege to have seen and heard them, and
I hope these pictures may inspire some awareness of the fact that there are
still unbroken living traditions, thousands of years old, with nothing to learn
from the modern storytelling revival, but much to teach.
The best, indeed only place I know of to regularly feature such tellers outside
of their native lands is Beyond the
Border, International Storytelling Festival.
I'll be adding more pictures and information as I can. See lots of information
on
storytelling traditions
on the Traditional Storytelling page.
