| CARDIFF, Wales. Poets, singers and
musicians from across the globe gathered in Wales to celebrate the tradition of
storytelling. "It might seem strange that people still want to listen in age of watching television, but this is an unusual art form whose time has come again," said David Ambrose, director of Beyond the Border, an international storytelling festival in Wales. "Some of the tales, like those the Inuit from Canada, are thousands of years old. So our storytellers have come from distant lands to connect us with the distance of time," he said early this month. Two Inuit women, both in their mid 60s, are among the few remaining who can do Kntadjait, or throat singing, which has few words and much sound. Their art is governed by the cold of their surroundings, forcing them to say little but listen attentively. Ambrose started the festival in 1993, after several years of working with those reviving (coming back into use or existence) storytelling in Wales. "It came out of a group of people who wanted to reconnect with traditions and as all the Welsh are storytellers, it was {{U}}in good hands{{/U}} here." Ambrose said. |