That wonderful profession called storytellers

Years ago I heard that in big cities there were artists who worked perfecting the noble art of storytelling. And coincidentally, not long ago I had the opportunity to attend an event in which several adults had gathered in a room to witness that capacity enhanced throughout history by tribal sages and nostalgic grandmothers. Yes, that wonderful profession called storyteller (or storyteller, accountant and even ethnopoet) still exists and it restores our confidence in the ancient art of knowing how to tell stories.

The world around a story

During his childhood, the Chinese writer Mo yan he helped his mother in a market where they sold jackets and other textile items. Some days, a man would come to the market and stop to tell stories that attracted the attention of a young Yan who, from time to time, would slip away to listen to him. He was a talkative child, and as such he would return shortly after with his mother to tell her stories while she knitted jackets to alleviate the harsh eastern winter. In a few days, her mother would tell her that instead of helping her at the stall, go listen to the storyteller in order to bring her new stories each night.

There are many virtues (and some not so obvious) in this art of oratory as universal as it has been expanded throughout history by all the cultures of the world. Stories that spoke of ethnic legends, of old spirits and princesses or of a clock and a lion that symbolizes death and is eager for new stories.

This last character was part of one of the stories he told us a few days ago Paqui Luna, a storyteller based in Madrid whose listeners were adults, confirming the rule that children's games can also be appreciated by their parents, grandparents or uncles in a time when they take refuge in the simplicity of a story with the mobile activated in mode. Plane becomes more than necessary.

The reason is none other than the ability to escape that this art encompasses. Because storytellers are not only limited to telling a story, but to open their soul to the public through their gestures, energy and ability to weave new worlds that are supported by the attention of the listener, who becomes part of that universe in which we all have a place and that we can adapt to ourselves.

At the same time, the story not only fulfills an elusive function, but also becomes an educational tool as applicable for children as for adults who from time to time need to be reminded of certain lessons, morals and teachings. Benefits of an oratory that adapts to the new times thanks to people who make their ability to transmit their main asset thanks to simple stories that go from Gloria Fuertes to Ray Bradbury and imagination, a lot of imagination with which to camouflage the daily reality of the that we run away.

Of course, some accessories are also essential: good lighting, temperature and decorations (clothing, materials..) That allow the accountant to seduce the public through his own show.

Artists who are part of the International Network of Storytellers (RIC), a well-known group founded in 2009 by Beatriz Montero and her partner, the writer Enrique Páez. A network that includes 1307 storytellers spread over 58 different countriesFrom Sri Lanka to Spain, from New Zealand to a Colombia in which a certain boy also listened attentively to the stories of his grandmother, giving place years later to a town called Macondo.

That wonderful profession called storytellers It continues to take place in schools, libraries and cultural spaces in which the old meetings around a fire are replaced by a highly recommended experience in the heart of that great city where stopping to listen (and try to escape) is makes it almost meditative.