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Rabat- The Marrakech Storytelling Festival is returning with a vengeance, with the second edition set to attract more than eighty storytellers from every continent.
Ahead of the anticipated event Morocco World News spoke with Baba-C, a griot and master storyteller from Washington who revealed that this year’s festival will bring together people from all walks of life for an “experience that is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Baba-C participated in the inaugural Marrakech storytelling festival, where he met and interacted with a slew of global storytellers from the four corners of the globe, as well as local masters and their apprentices.
When asked to reflect on his initial experience at the festival, Baba-C described it as “an experience hard to put into words,” he noted, stressing: “And this is coming from someone who is a wordsmith!”
Attending the event marked Baba-C’s first visit to Morocco but it certainly won’t be his last. Expressing his love for the city and its people he said, “I fell in love with Marrakech. The people, the food, the attire, the different languages. The respect for elders!”
Transcending cultural and language barriers
Tellers and guests at the festival
The next Marrakech Storytelling festival will take place from February 12 to 19. According to the festival’s official website, “More than eighty storytellers from every continent will converge on Marrakech for the second edition of the festival with the theme Ancestral Voices, echoing a deep need to meet in person, and the healing power of story in the post-pandemic World.’’
The festival – a great tourist attraction and a great event for the people of Marrakech – will feature more storytellers, storytelling, and interaction between global and local tellers.
“The Festival in 2023 will act as a catalyst in forging not only a renewed interest in the great oral tradition of storytelling, it will also transcend cultural and language barriers,” Baba-C said.
He continued, “bringing people from all walks of life together for an experience greater than the sum of its parts.”
Baba-C promised that the festival’s audiences will be enthralled, that stories will be shared over meals, and that there will be an upsurge of participation and request for more storytelling.
‘I came into the world talking and telling stories’
Baba-C first developed an interest in television and radio production. He began occasionally performing in local theater and films and he was also involved in the Washington, DC poetry renaissance in the 1970s.
“I was known as that poet that acts out his stuff. I was a Spoken Word Artist before it had a name,” he said.
The gift of storytelling seems to run in Baba-C’s family. He recalled seeing his uncle Charles, an orator, poet and storyteller telling stories on the porch of “shack” at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1976.
Years later, in 2012, he followed in his uncle’s footsteps as the Griot and Storyteller for the same Festival on the National Mall.
Baba-C co-founded the Nubian Theatre Company with Ayubo Kamau. He has since toured the United States, performing at the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Theatre, a World’s Fair, TV and radio performances, schools, as well as stints for the private business sector and other non-profits and festivals.
Baba-C has also given outstanding performances in Morocco. He performed in the Marrakech square alongside local masters, and he has led workshops at Morocco’s Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P). He also launched the first live cast from the physical Storytelling Cafe.
A gathering of two legendary storytellers, John Row and Baba-C
Becoming a professional storyteller
Baba-C urges aspiring tellers to know why they wish to tell stories and who they want to tell them too.
“Learn to be a good listener. Practice, practice, practice! Parents and friends may attempt to
dissuade you. My parents initially wanted me to tell on the side, after getting a ‘good job’,” he stressed.
“Telling can be a good job. It will require a lot of hard work and creativity. Most things worthwhile do! So to all aspiring Tellers, claim your dream, make it reality and don’t give up!,” he added.
