STORYTELLING – THE SPOKEN WORD
“Since we
gathered in the dark caves long 'go we are a people have been retelling stories
to one another. The Irish known to be the greatest at the art of
conjuring a tale into life while bringing the listener into another time and
world often leaving them there as they slip out the back door. As the old
Irish Proverb says, Bíonn siúlach scéalach, 'Travellers have tales to
tell' and the Irish have always been great wanderers of this world. There
are two types of Storyteller, the Scéalaí and the Seanchaí the former who
recounts the urban legends and the latter the teller of international traveling
folktales and Sagas, which by all accounts in the days before television and
the modern attention span, would go on for three days and three nights.
Nowadays,
though, all Irish storytellers are known as the Sceanchaí!
Who's
telling tales now?”
- Máirtín
de Cogáin
STORYTELLERS
Michael Cotter - third generation, Southern Minnesota farmer, dad, and storyteller.
He is a combination of pride in straight corn rows and concern for a healthy
environment. His Irish-Catholic heritage gives him the gift of compassion and
understanding, blended with a little blarney; and his gentle nature invites his
audiences to look deep within themselves to find their own stories. He believes
in farming, in people, and in the healing power of storytelling.
Michael’s storytelling journey started in a workshop at St.
Catherine's College
when he was asked to tell a personal story. He told
about having gotten
45 ton of potatoes through a government program as feed for
300 cattle.
During the story, it occurred to him that his
Great-Grandmother, a widow,
in 1850 left Ireland and came to America because
they had no potatoes.
Therein he saw the magic of storytelling.
Michael Cotter, Albert Lea, MN (507) 373-4748, cotter6@q.com
Máirtín de Cógáin
Solo Performer - Storytelling, songs in
English & Irish, Bodhrán
Rochester, MN and all around (310) 447-4839
mairtinmusic@gmail.com
www.MairtinMusic.com
www.Facebook.com/MdCProject
John Dingley
John Dingley and the Biggest Pack of Lies You Ever Heard
John's one-man show is a unique collection of embellished personal experiences,
humorous insights and a Welsh song or two by the Dingley-est Welshman of them all.
John is available for all sorts of storytelling in all sorts of settings.
John Dingley, Twin Cities, MN - (651) 280-7232, John.Digley@gmail.com
David McCullough Zander
David was born in West London, obtained a teaching
certificate from
the University of London, taught in Europe, Africa and the
Caribbean before
coming to Minnesota to study Anthropology. He taught
cultural anthropology
at Inver Hills Community College and worked for
fifteen years at the state
capitol on refugee and immigrant issues as a
researcher for the
Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans. His interest in
storytelling is
embedded in both his earlier training in English Literature and
in
Cultural Anthropology. He is co-founder and coordinator of the
Asian
Storytellers Alliance and is a storyteller of the old
Irish stories of
CuChulain and Finn McCool at Irish Fair Minnesota.
For example, David tells his version of Fionn in Search of
His Youth
(Recorded about 1930 from Peig Sayers, Blasket Islands, Dingle,
County Kerry). This tale belongs to the mythological cycle of the
Fenian
warriors, led by Fionn MacCuhaill (Finn McCool), who are
believed to have
flourished in the third century A.D. Scholars were
astonished to find that the
old wonder tales had been handed down
in Gaelic in the oral tradition for
nearly two thousand years.
David Zander, Minneapolis, MN – (612) 529-8964, davidbzander@gmail.com
Northstar Storytelling League is a Minnesota nonprofit serving
storytellers
and listeners throughout the state. Northstar sponsors regular
storytelling
events in the Twin Cities, including an annual all-day
Tellabration! festival at
Open Book in Minneapolis. Events are open to the
public, and
Northstar membership is open to all.
http://northstarstorytelling.org/
STORYTELLING EVENTS
Word
Ninjas is the Rockstar Storytellers monthly open mic night,
held the 2nd
Tuesday of every month at Kieran’s Irish Pub.
Suggested
$3 donation at the door.
Sign-up begins
at 8pm, and the show starts at 8:30pm.
In true open mic fashion, everyone who signs up gets
5 minutes to do ...
whatever they want! Unjuried, uncensored
(within reason, people) and
unpredictable. Stand-up, slam poetry,
storytelling, traditional poetry, folk
tales, monologue, literary readings -
if words are your weapons, we want you on
our stage.
Each show is hosted by one of our very own Rockstar Storytellers,
and another
Rockstar typically does a feature set somewhere in the line-up.
Word Ninjas
also features special touring guests and the occasional surprise local
celebrity!
Kieran's Irish Pub, 601 North 1st Ave., Minneapolis, MN
Updated
information is posted at http://slammn.org/calendar
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