|
The
Penang Global Ethic Project Launch
PUBLIC
TALK
Folke Tegetthoff's 'Tales from
Heaven'
WORKSHOP – 8.30pm, Sunday, 12
February 2006
....at
USM ABN-AMRO Arts & Cultutal Centre, Lebuh Pantai
Press
& Reviews
First
published in New Sunday Times, Malaysia,
Sunday, 29 January 2006
Stories
He Could Tell
In
the tradition of Europe's finest weavers of fables, Austria's
Folke Tegetthoff has touched hearts all over the world by seeking
to revive an age-old indulgence in hearing stories.
By Himanshu
Bhatt
One of Europe's
foremost storytellers, Folke Tegetthoff, will share his reservoir
of tales and fables with Malaysian audiences next month during
stints in Penang and KL.
Hailed as
Europe's newest gift in a historic line of storytellers like Aesop,
the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen, Tegetthoff will
narrate, with music and dramatics, popular stories including his
'Tales From Heaven'.
The programme
is organised by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Austrian Embassy,
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Soka Gakkai Malaysia.
The Penang
stint is held as part of the 'The Penang Global Ethic Project',
a month-long series of programmes to promote concepts of universal
peace and multi-religious harmony.
Tegetthoff,
a native of the Austrian town of Graz, is admired for combining
classical elements of the fairy tale with a new contemporary style
of presentation.
He has made
about 3,500 performances worldwide.
Truly good
tales, insists the 52-year old known for using engaging techniques
to deliver stories on stage, are not made to simply serve as entertainment
or worlds of fantasy.
"They
are not an escape from reality," he says, "but a longing
for reality."
"Story telling does not simply mean setting up channels between
my mouth and your ears," adds the author of 31 books. "It
means laying out very fine threads between my heart and your hearts."
While his
books and his performances are very suited for families, Tegetthoff
considers working with adults as being more vital than working
with children.
"This
is because inner deprivation, growing lack of concentration, and
the disproportionate consumption of TV and computer games of our
children can be traced back to the increasing inability of adults
to communicate among themselves," he explains.
Tegetthoff
is aware that people in the modern era have become inundated by
commercial mass media culture that has largely deprived them from
an age-old indulgence like simple listening to stories.
Tegetthoff
had studied medicine and education theory in his younger days,
travelling widely around Europe, when suddenly one morning he
came upon a certain fairy tale that moved him.
The experience
was a great source of inspiration, and became a turning point
that would change his life.
He has now
become committed to reviving storytelling as a popular medium
for healthy recreation and family bonding. He also performs extensively
for children.
Having published
31 books, selling over 1.4 million copies, he has also had seven
TV movies made.
In 1988 he
began organising Europe's biggest storytelling festival, the 'Grazerzahlt'
or "Tales of Graz".
His work
has been also entered in the archives of the National Library
of Congress in Washington, DC.
His published
works include 'Tales of Love' (Liebesmarchen), 'Tales of Herbs'
(Krautermarchen) and his first work 'The Beautiful Dragon'.
Interestingly,
Tegetthoff's own home seems like one out of a storybook.
He lives
with his family in an old, former St Georgen nunnery in the Austrian
province of Styria, with his ducks, geese, birds, goats, rabbits,
fishes, hens and a dog... And, of course, his fairies and elves.
Folke
Tegetthoff will present his stories in Penang at 8.30pm on Feb
12 (Sun.) at the USM ABN-AMRO Arts & Cultural Centre in Beach
Street, Penang. Admission is free. A workshop will be held the
next day at 8pm at the same place. For details, call 019-5664641
or email capepoetics@yahoo.com or. You may also visit www.globalethicpenang.net.
The KL presentation will be at 7.30pm on Feb 17 (Fri.), at the
Soka Gakkai Malaysia, 243 Jalan Bukit Bintang. Admission by invitation.
For details, call 03-21412003, 03-23817160/2.
The
Star, Central
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Europe's
latest gift tells tales in Malaysia
 STORYTELLING
is the purest form of communication one can ever imagine on stage,
said the world famous Austrian storyteller Folke Tegetthoff.
“There
will be no stage settings, no costumes and no masks. Just me,
my words and the audience. Storytelling is the oldest art form
where communication can be very personal and direct,” he
told a press conference in Wisma Kebudayaan SGM, recently.
Tegetthoff
… “Storytelling is the oldest art form where communication
can be very personal and direct.”
Also present
there were the Ambassador of Austria Dr. Donatus Koeck, representative
of Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation Peter Schier and Soka Gakkai (M)
deputy president Liu Cheng Choong.
Hailed as
Europe's newest gift in a historic line of storytellers, Tegetthoff,
who is also the organiser of Europe's biggest storytelling festival,
Grazerzahlt, or the Tales of Graz is here in Malaysia from Feb
2 to 27.
He will be
narrating with music and dramatics, popular stories including
Tales From Heaven during his tour here with the programme organised
by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Austrian Embassy, Universiti
Sains Malaysia (USM) and Soka Gakkai Malaysia.
The 52-year-old
from Graz, who has published 31 books and sold a total of 14 million
copies, insisted that his stories are not an escape to fantasy,
but rather, the longing for reality.
“Storytelling
does not simply mean setting up channels between my mouth and
your ears. It means laying out very fine threads between my heart
and your hearts,” said the author of 31 books.
Tegetthoff
who had studied medicine and education theory in his younger days,
came upon a certain fairy tale one morning that inspired him and
became a turning point of his life.
“The
key here is, you don't have to be a Muslim to understand a Muslim
story. It is always possible to cross the boundaries with storytelling
and find similarities among us,” he said.
He has now
become committed to reviving storytelling as a popular medium
for healthy recreation and family bonding. He also performs extensively
for children.
Tegetthoff
will present his stories in Penang at 8.30pm on Feb 12 at the
USM ABN-AMRO Arts & Cultural Centre in Beach Street, Penang
while the KL presentation will be at 7.30pm on Feb 17 at the Soka
Gakkai Malaysia, 243 Jalan Bukit Bintang.
For more
details, call the Austrian Embassy at 03-2381 7163.
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