Asian Telling Styles
China Korea Japan Southeast Asia Pakistan India
Today, across Asia, both traditional and new tales are told by a range of tellers, for a wide variety of reasons.
CHINA: Storytelling styles in China are as diverse as the country itself. Modern Chinese telling has its roots in the street storytelling popular centuries ago, when the teller used clever sung verses to attract listeners. Stories still popular today were shared, including Journey to the West featuring the beloved, mischievous Monkey; Water Margins, about several famous righteous outlaws; and Romance of the Three Kingdoms with its epic power struggles. In more recent times, the telling moved into the teahouses and storytelling houses.
The Chinese teller’s voice is truly a powerful instrument, accompanied at times by simple percussion instruments – bells, wooden clackers, drums. Even something as simple as a wooden block adds to the drama, portraying the slash of a sword, a hero’s moan, horses’ hooves, the cries of a solitary bird, and more. In the elegant ping tan styles around Shanghai, two tellers use voice, gesture, and the sounds of the stringed lutelike p'ip'a to reach their audiences still today.
Storytelling was seen as an important tool of the revolution in China. Storytellers were identified and retrained to tell stories about revolutionary heroes, and stories ridiculing superstitions and reactionary beliefs. In the past decades, with a loosening of some controls, storytellers can be heard satirizing both society and the government, especially through the very popular comic storytelling form, xiengshiang.
KOREA: Nearby, in Korea, the sophisticated art of p’ansori demands years of practice. Dedicated students in the past would stand under waterfalls and scream for hours, to develop the unique texture and range of the p’ansori voice. The form had its heyday in the 19th century, and survived into the 20th century with a repertoire of five major stories, all well known throughout Korea. As the form faded, the movie S’opyonjae, a fictional account of an aging p’ansori teller, became an unexpected box office hit in 1993, and brought new life to the art form. Student and drama groups also helped revive it by creating modern, often political, pieces.
Korean elders and teachers still quietly tell the traditional folk tales as well to share values of filial piety, respect for elders and teachers, and more. Also told in homes is the true tale. These brief personal experience stories share the turmoil of recent economic trends; the challenge of rapid social change; the weaker position of women and the still prevailing preference for sons; experiences with shamans and dreams; and of course, the horror of recent wars (including the military sex slaves of WWII) and the sorrow of the country’s division.
JAPAN: In Hiroshima, Japan, a group of aging hibakusha, survivors, regularly tell their true stories of the atom bomb in schools and at the Hiroshima Peace Park. They tell in simple words to share their pain, said Sato Reiko, so that “we may never forget that children’s happiness can only exist in peace.”
Rakugo storytelling, found today in Japanese yose theatres and local clubs, is known for the rich characterizations that share humorous tales from Tokyo’s past, and at times explore new topics, too.
For many generations, Japanese traditional tellers (see Ito Takeyo ) have also passed on tales quietly, either around the irori fireplace or at bedtime in older times. A few, like the lively Yokoyama Sachiko, help younger children, too, to tell tales. The kamishibai storyteller, with his colorful picture cards sets, was a popular figure earlier in the twentieth century, and published sets are popular today in library telling (see Kamishibai ).
The Ainu people once lived proudly in their land, until the Japanese came and conquered. Ainu elder Shirasawa Nabe was one of the few storytellers among this minority now surviving on Hokkaido Island in North Japan. She rediscovered storytelling, after a silence of almost sixty years, when a scholar came seeking old Ainu words. Those who listened were thrilled to hear her answer with the old yukara epics, which were chanted before to wooden drum beats.
SOUTHEAST ASIA: Professor and storyteller Wajuppa Tossa, of Northeastern Thailand, also found her beloved Isan culture threatened by the stronger Thai language and culture. So she now teaches storytelling to her students, sends them out in troupes to share their Isan heritage, translates old Isan epics, and sponsors storytelling camps. In Singapore, the National Library Board, the National Book Development Council, and talented tellers like Kiran Shah and Sheila Wee are helping Singaporeans explore both cultural roots and future directions in a growing modern storytelling movement.
Nearby, in Malaysia, storytelling is also spreading, especially in the schools. Recently, many training sessions for teachers have taken place as storytelling has become part of the schoolday. Dr. Murti Bunanta of Indonesia promotes storytelling there through her work of many years, helped by talented Indonesian tellers and writers.
PAKISTAN: For centuries, caravans going East and West would meet and storytellers would pass on news and tales in the Storyteller's Bazaar of Peshawar. It still exists today, but is full of traffic and noise, with no live tellers in sight. However, their voices are still heard, for storytelling cassette tapes now sell briskly, helping listeners to remember the past and tellers to find new audiences.
INDIA: Across India, there are too many ways to tell a tale. In Rajasthan, two popular styles involve the intricately painted par scroll and the ingenious kavad, a box with panels that unfold to tell a tale.
Musical storytelling is found across India in countless forms. Kirtan, a stirring blend of music and story from North India, changed into the southern Harikatha, which is still found in temples, musical societies, and at functions. Harikatha bhagavatars, like Sri T.S. Balakrishna Sastrigal, have natural talent, devotion, and much training. They know major epics and stories, thousands of verses, several musical styles, and countless anecdotes to weave into the main story.
In the far south, the villupattu style features a large troupe and an unusual instrument: a bow strung with bells. Burra katha troupes in neighboring Andhra Pradesh usually have three members: a main teller, an assistant who adds questions and asides to help the tale unfold, and a drummer who plays the “burra.” The Communists helped revive this art to spread their message in the early 1900’s. Today, burra katha troupes, like villupattu troupes, share traditional tales as well as messages on family planning, farming, banking, or politics.
In lush Kerala state, several forms flourish. Chakyar Kuttu, performed only in temples, is the oldest form. The Chakyar uses elaborate language to slowly embroider several verses from an epic. Ottan Thullal, a more lively form of telling — with varied music, generous expression, bright costume, and social comment laced with satire — evolved from through the genius of poet Kunchan Nambiar.
While most Indian tellers tell of the gods, in kathaprasangam of Kerala, tellers tell about Communism and regional talent. This secular style developed in the twentieth century to popularize local Malayalam literature and to challenge societal problems of caste, corruption, and inequality.
The Asian storyteller tells to promote rural development, to encourage devotion, to preserve heritage and the environment, to teach, to entertain, and to inspire. In both quiet village and bustling city, Asian storytellers tell on even in the twenty-first century.
