Storytelling and music today by Acoustic Traditional and Sikkim Conservatory

GANGTOK, 04 Oct: Acoustic Traditional [NGO] is organizing a valedictory concert for the ‘one-page project’ on Saturday.
A press release issued by the organization informs that the state Culture Department has agreed to keep a copy of the one-page book. The organization will be handing over the copy of the book to the department during the programme on Saturday. A music and storytelling concert in collaboration with the Sikkim Conservatory School of Music is also part of the programme.
The release informs that the storytelling session will include legends of Guru Padmasambhava and unpublished folktales of the region while Sikkim Conservatory will be performing traditional folk, Buddhist ritual and Shaman’s ritual music.
The programme is being held at the Mini Auditorium at Mannan Kendra, New Secretariat, Development Area, Gangtok from 5 PM onwards. The organization has invited all to part of the event.

An evening of music and storytelling on 05 Oct

GANGTOK, 03 Oct: Acoustic Traditional [NGO] in collaboration with music academy, Sikkim Conservatory is organizing an evening of music and storytelling on 05 October at Manan Kendra. The event is being organized to acknowledge and thank all those who supported Acoustic Traditional in the making of the 200 metre long page of folk stories. The evening will see performances by the students of Sikkim Conservatory and a storytelling session as well. The event is scheduled to start from 5 PM onwards and Acoustic Traditional has invited all to be a part of the evening.

Stories of Jhamphey Mung reach Mumbai

GANGTOK, 27 Nov: Acoustic Traditional’s work in Sikkim, especially in Dzongu, and neighbouring Darjeeling over the last few years seems to have finally received the nation’s attention. Yesterday Mid-Day, the afternoon English daily in Mumbai, carried a full page article on Acoustic Traditional [AT], the NGO behind the hard work, and Dzongu storytellers with their tales of Yeti or Jhamphey Mung.
“This is really great news for us and for the storytellers with whom we have been working all this time. Mr. Merek and Mr. Netuk Lepcha have been pictured in the article with their testimonials. It’s great because there is so much in our oral literature to tell. What people think is that our stories are just as much as they have come to know through books or documented works. Everything in the region is so much about storytelling that it is hard to believe that we have that much. Our oral traditions are as old as the sacred Earth and there is so much to know and listen to. It’s inspiring to know that interest in our work in growing. It’s time to tell our stories again, this time to the world,” said Salil Mukhia Kwoica, founder AT.
The article comes at a time when Acoustic Traditional is busy preparing for their upcoming Confluence, Festival of Indigenous Storytellers at Darjeeling between 07 and 09 December at the Windamere Hotel. Now in its 3rd year, the Confluence actually was initiated in Sikkim with the support of State Culture and Heritage Department. Last year, it was held in Bangalore.
The Confluence is a travelling Festival of Storytellers and the reason why it travels is because it aims to focus on a region’s folklore and storytelling. The focus in 2010 was Sikkim where around 12 storytellers from across various communities participated. In Bangalore, the focus was on the Southern tribes. This year, it is on Darjeeling. From Sikkim, storytellers from Dzongu will be participating this year.
AT will be nominating storytellers from the region to participate at the global Tera Madre Movement being organised in Shillong around 14 December 2012. “We are hoping that one storyteller from Sikkim and one from Darjeeling could be supported to represent there,” added Abhishek Pradhan, Programmes and Communication Manager, AT.
For the Confluence festival, AT is providing a concession especially for community-based associations to encourage their participation. The registration fee with concession is Rs 800 for three days as compared to the Rs 5,500 for non-regional participants.
For more information on how to register, please contact: 8972 313 930

Festival of Indigenous Storytellers in Darjeeling this December

GANGTOK, 16 Oct: The 3rd Confluence, Festival of Indigenous Storytellers, 2012 is being organised at Darjeeling this year from 07-10 December. The 3-day event will showcase various storytelling traditions (including shamanic oral traditions) and will include storytellers from various tribal communities across the country, alongside professional storytellers.
This festival is the flagship event of Acoustic Traditional which brings our vanishing indigenous storytellers, every year, from across the country with a view to share and celebrate the different oral storytelling traditions and indigenous folklore and to support a growing outreach platform through which the voices of mountain and forest tribal communities can not only reach a national audience but also find relevance in urban India (through their stories).
As per a press release, this year, the festival focuses on the oral history and folklore of the Eastern Himalayas. With Acoustic Traditional’s ongoing One Tribe tour based on the documentation of the folklore of Jhamphey Mung (or the legendary snow creature in the region), the event includes a special highlight on Lepcha storytellers from Lingthem, Lingdem and Tinvong villages of Dzongu (the sacred land of the Lepcha tribal people) alongside Kiranti storytellers from across Sikkim and Darjeeling.
The festival includes various activities, workshops, special sessions, field visits, etc., to help enrich our understanding of this vanishing aspect of indigenous communities, vis-a-vis their cultural, spiritual and scientific linkages and importance, apart from the idea of keeping this ancient tradition alive.
With storytellers from across Manipur, Nagaland, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerela and from the mainstream storytelling arena, the 3-day event will showcase a diverse range of ancient storytelling traditions from across the country, the release mentions.
Initiated in 2010, with support from Sikkim State Culture and Heritage Department, Confluence, has been moving spaces over the last two years to include a larger participation of local communities.
The last date of registration for participants is 20 November. For more information you can contact acoustic.traditional@gmail.com.

Acoustic Traditional tours Dzongu in search of tales of the Yeti

INITIATING A DIALOGUE ON ORAL HISTORY OF THE LEPCHAS
GANGTOK, 14 Sept: A three-member team of Acoustic Traditional [a Bangalore based NGO] has been in Sikkim for the last two months work especially in Dzongu recording and documenting the oral history related to the mythical Yeti. The tour is part of the One Tribe project of the organization which aims to document the near-extinct folklore of the Himalayan legend- Yeti.
The tour started with the ‘Big-Foot’ Campaign at Darjeeling where over 800 students participated with a view to revive the disappearing Himalayan folklores. The tour was then officially flagged off by a Limboo Shaman of Darjeeling, Dhan Bahadur Limboo, with Sikkim being the first destination.
The Acoustic Traditional team consists of storyteller Salil Mukhia, Minket Lepcha for oral documentation and Abhishek Pradhan for video documentation. During the tour in Dzongu, the team was led by Kachyo Lepcha in the process of recording the oral history related to the Yeti.
Addressing a press conference today, Mr Mukhia said that Yeti folklores are on the verge of extinction and Acoustic Traditional has been working towards the conservation of these myths and legends by documenting them so that anyone could have access to it in the future. He further added that these stories also act as a link to traditional systems and practices.
During the two months, the team toured six villages in Dzongu; Lingthem, Passingdang, Tingvong, Lingdem, Kusong and Lingdong. The team interacted with over 6 Bongthings and spoke to numerous local people of the area on the subject. It is informed that the team was able to document around 20 stories over a period of two months. The team used both audio and video in the documentation process.
Mr Mukhia informed that most of the stories were told by Shamans and Bongthings as they seemed to be the only people to know about the ‘Jhamphey Mung’ in detail. At the same time, he added that although most were aware of the legendary being, very few could recollect any story related to them.
Sharing their experiences in Dzongu, he said that Dzongu began to reveal a very different Mung and this view on Yeti was a bit different from other communities and the linkages of Jhamphey Mung to other similar beings are quite extensive. On the same, he added that given the existing nature of documentation from other communities, the team decided to focus on Lepcha folklore as much on the subject remains unexplored. “As a result of the Dzongu expedition, the team will now follow up on Lepcha folklore in Bhutan and Nepal where the community is present in small patches,” he added.
“The tour was a means to initiate a dialogue on oral history and so far it has been successful and the documentation work would continue in future and the present engagement was only a means to emphasize the need to document our folklore and to keep alive our amazing storytelling traditions”, expressed Mr Mukhia.
Acoustic Traditional has also planned to conduct a workshop at Dzongu to help initiate a long-term process of storytelling revival in the region. Acoustic Traditional’s resource centre in Darjeeling [from October 2012 onwards] will digitize all documentation materials and archive them in the hope that they will remain for the future generation to study or simply read. They also shared that there was great scope for government and other stakeholders to take part in this process.
The available folklore on Yeti is significant and there is much that needs to be done to strengthen the process of documentation and archiving them, said Mr Mukhia further stressing that, “Yeti or Jhamphey Mung or Sokpa is a part of our rich intangible heritage and it is critical that we keep them alive, orally and otherwise”.
The team has also planned to hold a workshop at Dzongu this September, which the regional coordinator, Kachyo Lepcha will be overseeing. He informed that a list of workshops is being prepared for various schools across Sikkim and Darjeeling as well.
The annual festival of Indigenous Storytellers, which is the only national event in South Asis, will be held in Darjeeling this year where many storytellers from Sikkim will be participating.
The entire event will be recorded and published as an Audio Book around November with the participation of storytellers from across the country including storytellers from Dzongu. This book will be released nationally, which will be followed by the national distribution process.
The team has also planned for a National Storytelling Tour from November onwards and the sessions will comprise of Jhamphey Mung stories, narrated in the drunken style.
“The impact of the documentation will be at a national level as travel to around 8 states is being explored through the tour and the tour will include meeting government representatives, NGOs and related organizations,” said Mr Mukhia. The documentation process will continue irrespective of the tour, he added.
Acoustic Traditional has also thanked the Lepcha Youth Association of Sikkim, musicians from the state and the people of Dzongu for their support and encouragement in this initiative.

An evening with the Yeti, Chi and music

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LISTEN TO THIS, HIC! Acoustic Traditional's Salil Mukhia Kwoica narrates a Lepcha folktale about the Yeti in the 'drunken style' accompanied by Sonam Chopyel on the tungbuk at Mayfair Resorts on 31 August


ACOUSTIC TRADITIONAL SETS GANGTOK IN A TRANCE WITH ITS ‘DRUNKEN STYLE’ STORYTELLING
GANGTOK, 06 Sept: Acoustic Traditional unveiled its drunken style of storytelling at the ‘One Tribe’ concert at Mayfair on 31 August. In a rare moment of shamanic music and oral storytelling, a unique journey was embarked upon, something that will perhaps in future find a lasting tie with indigenous oral traditions in and around the region. For the moment, the word is out and the world is keen on knowing what this style could possibly mean.
“Acoustic Traditional has been telling stories for over a decade now and throughout our journey, we have never stopped ourselves from being influenced by community-based storytellers. They are remarkable storytellers and we have constantly reinvented ourselves over the years taking inspiration from them. One important area in our work is that of documenting the oral traditions maintained by our shamans such as Bongthings, Fedongmas, Jhankris, Poibas, etc., and somewhere we have been compelled to bring their traditions and ways of storytelling forward. These are vanishing traditions. All our shamans use some form of ‘chi’ or the other in their rituals and this is not unusual”, says AT founder and storyteller Salil Mukhia Kwoica.
The ‘chi’ [ fermented millet beer], he says prepares them for a spiritual journey and the drunken style of storytelling borrows from this tradition and uses their system of mapping (shamanic) to tell stories or build narrations. It isolates the storyteller from his set of distractions and enables him to go where he usually cannot.
This seems to have worked, as Salil explains, “The first musical verse played by Sonam Chopyel on his flute took me very far and I suddenly realised that I was telling a story I heard from Mr. Netuk Lepcha in Dzongu when initially I had something else in mind!”
On the whole, the style touches upon two things: stories being sacred and use of ‘chi’ as a spiritual offering to our deities to help enable us to tell and interpret the stories, he further informs.
Session organiser Abhishek Pradhan adds, “We could not get the traditional ‘chi’ [millet beer] so we had to do with beer. I have been organising sessions for some time now and Salil did not sound the same as before. He had been drinking a week before to see if he could remain in his senses while narrating. We now look forward to taking this style before others in our National Storytelling Tour.”
With musicians and bands from across Gangtok and Darjeeling (Michelle Pradhan, Neha Pradhan, Adams Apple, Debashish and international Baul singers Satyananda and Hori Das), the concert proved to be more than what it had intended to be, share members of AT.  Impromptu performances, last minute changes and support from unexpected corners brought the whole endeavour together turning it into something more than what had been planned.
For Sonam Chopyel who accompanied Salil through the storytelling session with a Lepcha guitar [tungbuk] and flute, it was an experience which offered him a different perspective on the music he had been playing till now. Interestingly, Chopyel would not have been part of the show if it wasn’t for his uncle who could not make it to Gangtok from Dzongu for the concert.
A teacher at a government school here, Chopyel says “It was something that I did not expect. I felt being taken over through my own music and perhaps it’s because there was this element of sacredness at play. I played the music that is used to invite our deities and with the storyteller on a ride of imagination, it took me far deeper in my music than before.”
From music enthusiasts to educators to intellectuals to media professional who were present at the concert, the event brought in a wide spectrum of audience. As the last story was told with notes fading off the flute, those present were lost in a trance which was broken only a while later.
“It was one of its own kind - different and unique. Acoustic Traditional contributed towards the promotion and preservation of this art form”, is what Tseten Lepcha had to say of the evening. “The overall show was great and really enlightening especially the story regarding the Yeti and I liked the drunken storytelling style by Salil. The song ‘Handy boy’ by Debashish was simply awesome with lots of bitter truth in it”, said Tshering Wangchuk Lepcha.
Acoustic Traditional has now got quite a few invitations to showcase the ‘drunken storytelling’ style, as Minket Lepcha of AT informs, “We have just received an interesting invitation from one of our supporters to do our session at an upcoming Festival at Hyderabad this October where people from around the world will be present, especially from civil society organisations”.

One Tribe Tour Live in Concert

GANGTOK, 29 Aug: With just a day to go before the One Tribe Tour Live in Concert plays out at Mayfair Resorts, Acoustic Traditional, the organisation behind the concert promise “A treat for music lovers, bringing together the best of rock in the hills with a touch of classic feel alongside the surreal and often guitar-led musical session of the storytellers”.
According to a press release, singer Neha Pradhan of ‘A-Live’ said, “Well, as a musician I’ve always believed that music speaks one language and it binds people together, no matter where they come from. Since Acoustic Traditional is an organisation which is bringing various musicians together to preserve our own indigenous heritage through music, I didn’t think twice! I just wanted to participate in this event. It'll be a great experience for me to learn stories about other cultures and also a chance to meet and perform with musicians from other regions.”
“This concert space we chose is comfortable. In fact, it accommodates just the size we felt we could cater to in terms of promotion and outreach, etc. As a small team, we have been studying, documenting and now engaging with artists from the region. We started out in a small way and it’s turning out to be great. The belief that we will find support along the way has been at the heart of our present work and it’s incredible how musicians of acclaim have come forward for this,” adds Abhishek Pradhan of Acoustic Traditional who has been filming the tour.
The concert, which is to be held on 31 August at Mayfair Hotels and Resorts, will witness performances from Adams Apple (featuring musicians from Mantra, Head Motif, Sinister Violence), Michelle Pradhan, A-Live and other independent artists, the release mentions.
The entry fee is priced at Rs. 550 for a single person, Rs. 1,200 for a single person with dinner and Rs. 2,200 for two with dinner. For booking please contact: 8972 313 930 / 95470 46200.

AT ENGAGES GANGTOKIANS FOR UPCOMING ‘ONE TRIBE’ CONCERT

Members of Acoustic Traditional [a Bengaluru-based NGO] create the Earth symbol using candles and chart papers to promote the upcoming One Tribe Concert to be held at Mayfair Resorts here on 31 August. The team was joined by many pedestrians in making the symbol and also received queried about the upcoming event. The symbol of the Earth (ancient symbol) was used by the team to indicate the "oneness" of the tour and how it relates to all of us.

Acoustic Traditional to bring together music and storytelling at Mayfair Resort

GANGTOK, 17 Aug: With Acoustic Traditional’s ‘One Tribe’ tour nearing its completion in the state, the organisation is now gearing up for a concert with the support of Mayfair Hotels and Resorts, Gangtok.
As per a press release, the show, which will be hosted at the Mayfair Resorts on the 31 August, will bring together music and storytelling in a brand new spectacle, something that the state has not witnessed before.
Music and stories will find a new meaning and interpretation in the concert which will feature musicians from the region [Sikkim and Darjeeling]. Often referred to as the new indigenous movement, the concert hopes to build on the group’s previous series with specific focus on their present work, the release mentions.
Storyteller Salil Mukhia of Acoustic Traditional says, “We have been working on a specific style for quite a few years now, which we hope to exhibit with the support of musicians this time. At a certain level, this style is influenced by shamanic storytelling where hard music becomes necessary. It will be interesting as we will be working with artists from Rock backgrounds and there will be plenty of guitars, raw sounds and great music. We are more than looking forward to it. Such style of storytelling is new and it’s great to have a genre of our own! Besides, what is important remains important – taking our message further of conserving indigenous folklore.”
The concert has been planned with Mayfair leading the way in support of the organisation’s tour. “This is not a general session. It’s an exclusive one and planned as a means to support the tour. While we do frequent sessions, we do not do concerts very often as a lot goes into making it,” adds Abhishek Pradhan.
While events like these are seldom organised and bring in a new perspective to storytelling, Mr. Bjorn Deniese, Mayfair Hotels and Resorts sees something critical, “We at Mayfair believe in protecting and promoting indigenous culture and tradition which has always been a part of the Himalayas. Cultural Tourism is an interesting new path for the future tourism in the state and such concerts will bring to the forefront the rich culture and folklore of Sikkim.”
The project team until now has been documenting the folklore of Yeti in the State with a specific focus on the Dzongu region in view of understanding the Lepcha community’s association with the great legend. The process of documentation will extend to other areas in the near future as such an area of documentation cannot be completed in such a short time, the release informs.
According to Minket Lepcha, “the effort marks a beginning in the revival of indigenous folklore in the region vis-à-vis community engagement.”
For concert bookings and details, please contact: 8972 313 930 / 811 660 2270 or contact Mayfair Hotels and Resorts, Gangtok.

Acoustic Traditional in Sikkim with tales of the Yeti

GANGTOK, 09 July: A group of young story tellers under the banner of Acoustic Traditional, a Bangalore based NGO launched a nine-month long campaign ‘One Tribe’ to rediscover the folk tales among different communities about the mythical snowman – the Yeti. The organisation this time aims to conduct a study on the Yeti in the eastern Himalayan region covering Nepal, Sikkim and few of the North Eastern states and some other states of India. Apart from that, the organisation also has plans of conducting a National Story Telling session based on myths and legends in particular.
Speaking to the media at the Press Club of Sikkim today, the Acoustic Traditional founder, Silal Mukhia, informed that they plan to stay in Sikkim for around 25 days during which the organisation will be visiting schools and hold storytelling sessions.
He added that the organisation had visited Sikkim in the year 2010 and organised a confluence on storytellers and also prepared a 100 meters long banner using digital art [on traditional stories] which has been registered in the Limca Book of Records- 2012.
He went on to add that, a new hunt has begun to discover tales of the Yeti and document the oral history, myths and legends related to the ‘Big Foot’ that many believe existed in the Himalayan Region of Nepal and Tibet.
“There have been many myths and confusion surrounding the existence of the Yeti, we will explore the specific areas in the Eastern Himalayan Region where sightings of the Yeti have been reported,” he said.
Speaking about the organization, he stated that the organisation was formed in 1999 and the members of Acoustic Traditional, mostly young tribals, are working with fifteen communities’ story tellers across the country to record their myths and legends.
“It is a voluntary organization based in Bangalore that works to promote oral storytelling and tribal folklore, especially of the mountain and forest-based communities”, Salil added.
During the nine-month long venture the team comprising of six members will explore parts of Sikkim, Darjeeling, Bhutan and Nepal interacting with the Shamans and the elderly who carry knowledge on Yeti.
He added that the members of the organization will spend a month in Sikkim and visit places such as Jawaharlal Nehru Road in East Sikkim, Sokphey in South, [a place named after the Yeti in Nepali ‘Sokpha’] and Samandim, a Western border between Sikkim and Darjeeling where the sightings of Yeti have been recorded in books written by some foresters and scholars.
“We have spoken to people of various communities and we believe that the yeti, ban jhankri and sokpa [another mythical creature that appears often in Nepali literature] are the same. Unlike people from the West who paint yeti as an abominable creature, local communities believe that it is a guide to the spiritual world on which shamanism is based,” he added.
Acoustic Traditional has already published “Lost Stories”, a book on oral storytelling about a year back. He added that lecturer at Gyalshing Government College and story teller Kachyo Lepcha is helping the team to reach out to the people of these areas. He also added that the findings and the research would be documented in the form of films and books.
“For the next one week we will finish all the official work of taking permission from the Sikkim Government to visit these places to avoid any kind of complications in the future” added, Abhishek Pradhan, a documentary film maker and also a team member.
This is also the first project of the upcoming Mountain Center for Study of Indigenous Story Telling Traditions in Darjeeling. The center will be an autonomous institute set up by Acoustic Traditional which will preserve indigenous oral history, folklores and many more which are on the verge of extinction. It will also help in research work related to indigenous studies, added Abhishek.