The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Engrossing fare from Swiss storytellers

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Thursday, Nov 02, 2006
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Engrossing fare from Swiss storytellers

Staff Reporter

Fairy tales are very important as they talk about basic human emotions like love and jealousy. They are significant for children as they learn things from them

HYDERABAD: They came from Switzerland. No, not with a bag full of chocolates or Swiss goodies but with a sack full of tales! Fairy tales.

It was a wonderful Wednesday morning for the students of Vidyaranya High School, Saifabad as the two women — Margit Vogler Sulbach and Barbara Gobrecht — had them engrossed.

The formally trained storytellers from Switzerland told tales about talking trees, of ordinary men and women and of hunger and poverty.

"Fairy tales are very important as they talk about basic human emotions like love and jealousy. They are significant for children as they learn things from them and for adults as they can revive their childhood lessons," says Ms. Sulzbach.

Reviving the art

Ms. Sulzbach said there was a significant movement in Switzerland to revive the art of storytelling in 1950s. "In 80s it became fashionable to read out stories and there came in a plethora of new age fairy tale tellers.

It was in the 90s that Swiss Association of Fairy Tales came about and gave a whole new dimension to the art," she adds. "The need for such resurrection was felt because as families became smaller there was a dearth of good old grandmother stories. People were working with intangible things. Modern lifestyle had alienated people from nature. People were getting drained out and these stories gave them necessary emotional food," she says.

Awareness

The event was organised by the Swiss Embassy along with Association for German Culture to create awareness about Swiss culture and literature in India.

And indeed, what better form it could have been but through storytelling in a society where the art is craving for a resurgence.

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