Theatre group revives storytelling using folk art

Sunday November 3, 2013

BY MIRIT AGAIBY

“Stories of the Nile,” a storytelling performance, was presented by a theatre group at Doum Cultural Center in Agouza on Oct. 26, combining traditional stories and old folk music.

The Telitwar crew’s goal is to tell and sing stories that portray certain morals the same way grandparents used to back in the fifties.

“It reminded me of the stories my grandmother used to unfold to me all the time as a child,” said Faten El Nahas, a member of the audience, adding that she would love to watch performances like Telitwar’s more often.

One of the stories told in the show was about an old man who died in Upper Egypt’s Minya. People didn’t know where to burry him, as his religious beliefs were unknown. However, once they did, every prayer done in his sake would always be answered.

The moral of this story was the fact that this man managed to unite people of different religions backgrounds together, although his religious views were unknown, said Nady Erfan, founder The Telitwar.

One of their performances, “Watch out for Amal’s territory” has been awarded for its poetry, directing, group creativity, and composing.

Islam El Halawany, one of the crewmembers said that Telitwar group was founded years ago in Minya.

However the crew, was somewhat acknowledged for its performances only since 2012.

According to Storytelling day’s website, storytelling has existed for a long time. As an art, it is an old means that was used to paint an everlasting picture in a person’s mind. It has also been the method used to transfer down memories from father to son, and to forever preserve memories of love, family and traditions.

Storytelling is not a newly emerging art, the website explains, but rather an art so old that has been buried by the chaos of technology and the media, and is now being