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Rabat – With only a few days until the much-anticipated Marrakech International Storytelling Festival, Morocco World News interviewed England’s most experienced storyteller, Taffy Thomas.
Thomas will be the honorary guest of the festival, which will be held in Marrakech from February 12 – 19. This year’s edition marks Thomas’ first visit to Morocco.
The English storyteller has a repertoire of over 300 stories, some of which are woven into a magnificent coat he wears while performing. The audience will get the chance to pick a story by pointing it out from Thomas’ unique coat.
The festival will feature 80 storytellers from every continent. Thomas hopes to hear more stories in Marrakech and add them to his vast repertoire as he continues in the cross-cultural transmission of this art. “I want to take Moroccan stories home, to tell when I’m back to England,” he stressed.
For Thomas, sharing the stories you hear is key to the process, he explained if the audience fails to pass on the tales “they will be reaping the harvest without sowing the seeds.”
“When I leave Marrakech after this visit, I want to leave behind stories and storytellers. Anybody who comes along in the audience will be entertained and I will challenge them to take one of the stories and pass it on.”
The 73-year-old storyteller will be joined by two young musicians in their twenties to deliver an intergenerational performance.
Over 300 stories later
Growing up, Thomas spent a lot of time listening to his grandfather telling history through stories which sparked his interest in what is now his storytelling career.
In his later teenage years, Thomas began frequenting the local folk music club where he was exposed to more music and storytelling, which piqued his interest in the genre even more.
Thomas’ diverse work experience as a teacher, musician, magician, and fisherman, as well as his interactions with various people, has enabled him to amass a repertoire of over 300 stories.
The experienced storyteller decided to build his repertoire of 300 stories not from books or the internet, but from people; his stories come from gypsies, farmers, fishermen, all kinds of people, and even children.
The power of storytelling in speech therapy
At 36 years old, while performing at a carnival Thomas suffered a massive stroke, which completely damaged the left side of his body, “suddenly I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t talk, and I couldn’t use a knife and fork,” he recalled.
Storytelling was Thomas’ vice and means of therapy during the hard time “when my voice came back it was very slurred and very monotone but storytelling gave it a shape.”
As well as therapy, storytelling was a lifeline for him: “It also gave me a new life, as a storyteller who is lucky enough to be UK’s first storytelling laureate, to receive the invitation from the Queen, and also to be a high-profile guest at the Marrakech Storytelling Festival,” Thomas enthused.
Thomas, who found a silver lining in his ordeal, laughed and remarked, “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.”
The secrets of a good storyteller
Taffy Thomas
In storytelling, Thomas explained, the teller must first and foremost win the audience’s hearts while entertaining them. While entertaining people the storyteller can accomplish a variety of goals.
Storytelling can build “confidence, self-esteem and give people hope,” Thomas stressed, adding that whenever it is possible he performs for people who suffer from illness or strokes to show those that are struggling that there is a way forward.
A story, according to Thomas, can elicit a range of emotions in a person, from laughter to tears. “The storyteller may sometimes take you to a dangerous place, but at the end of the story, he will bring you home safely,” he concluded.
“If you tell a story you will never die because you will live on in the story when somebody else tells it.”
When asked how we can preserve storytelling in the modern world, Thomas stressed the importance of choosing stories that are relevant to the modern world. “Personal folktales that deal with life, death, love, war, and peace, and all of them are still relevant today as they were a hundred years ago,” he explained.
The storyteller emphasized that the main way to preserve this tradition is to hold festivals like the upcoming International Storytelling Festival, “with 80 storytellers we can visit hundreds of schools and universities in Marrakech.”
The goal behind these festivals is to “hook and infuse a new generation of people to the oldest form of entertainment then it will carry on,” he detailed.
By sharing stories, people can leave a lasting impression and legacy. “I’m now in the autumn of my life —my seventies– people believe that the stories will live longer than me, because if you tell a story you will never die; you will live on in the story when somebody else tells it,” Thomas concluded.
Read Also: Baba-C Storyteller ‘Star-Struck by Morocco, In awe of Marrakech’
