Background on our work
"Once I met an old Lepcha Bungthing (shaman in Lepcha) while traveling to Magan, North Sikkim. He told me something which changed my life, and continues to revive in me the interest that once took me there... He said, in response to my question if he knew of some old Lepcha legends, 'Nani (Son or kid), look around you, the Teesta (an important river in the region) is diseas
ed, people are digging into the gold which feeds the soil, everyone is tyring to be someone or the other I cannot imagine who....if I told about our legends, you would probably laugh at me! What is the use of telling you things which you cannot relate to at all? No body wants to talk.... I do not know which community you beling to, probably Newari...but remember, you will need your past one day to put together who you are...' S.M Koica Lo
That in many way speaks about our work and why we work. Apart from exploring the pleasures of listening to our folklore, which is an important aspect of reviving our tradition of storytelling, Acoustic Traditional is also - and quite significantly - about re-establishing the links between our stories and our amazingly diverse rich traditional knowledge and our cultural identities which we are losing as we move ahead in time. With a wide range of influencers - from acculturation to displacement to generational differences to ...... affecting the course of tribal inheritance, we are losing our ancestral legacy, our legends, myths, beliefs and practices as our own tradition-keepers such as our storytellers and shamans, disappear. Along with them, we are losing something that has so long survived the times - our collective experiences and learning and their relevance in our present times. Our Work
To listen to storytellers, bring them together, give them audience, document myths, legends and stories and build an archive where various stakeholders, enthusiasts, cultural historians and more importantly, the participating communities themselves, can find means to look back into their past in future. More importantly, we work to revive the tradition of storytelling in communities where it is sometimes the only means to understanding and knowing their cultural, spiritual and scientific history. Our primary aim is to bring together tribal storytellers, stakeholders, organisations, communities through various engagement means (such as the Annual Festival of Indigenous Storytellers, Storytelling Sessions, Workshops, etc.)towards the conservation of tribal oral history
While there is an increasing interest from both the scientific and non-scientific communities in tribal cultures, there is yet a general perception that tribal worlds are worlds of superstitions, myths and backwardness that they are in urgent need of mainstreaming and development. This is sometimes the attitude of the younger tribal generation as well, which makes the pursuit of a meaningful revival even more challenging. There is little understanding of the fact that these communities are knowledgeable communities with a tradition of sustainable living. But in the lack of efficient communication tools and platforms in the mainstream arena, the gap between the tribal and non-tribal worlds tends to increase. In more ways than one, Acoustic Traditional is about bringing the essence of tribal cultures before a wider audience and building crossovers wherever possible and meaningful, especially through storytelling!
