Musical Storytelling Hits the Puku Trail
Puku Children’s Literature Foundation and Redisa: IsiXhosa Story Festival
Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! Rethink! This refrain, set to the beat of musical storyteller Lynn Joffe had Grahamstown kids rocking at the Puku Story Festival’s outreach program. Using recycled instruments to demonstrate the building blocks of music, from beat to rhythm to melody, then words to construct a story, Joffe and her team drove home the recycling message in Grade R classes in primary schools in Joza and Fingo townships during the Puku Story Festival 2015.
Lynn Joffe runs Creatrix, specialising in branded content and edutainment campaigns. In this project she indulges her first love – musical storytelling for children. After writing a multi-media book and CD, The Tale of Stingray Charles, and collaborates with other artists to perform at schools and festivals.
For the Puku Story Festival, the Pitterpat team was paired with Ayabulela Ngcalwane of Izwe Lebali, a local arts organisation that reaffirms the power of indigenous storytelling to create contemporary forms to educate and entertain. The partnership worked well as evidenced by the reaction not only of the children but the teachers, who requested follow up workshops, specifically for Foundation Phase teachers.
Creatrix presented twelve roadshows over three days to Foundation Phase learners. Click here to view a few performance highlights, using musical storytelling techniques that delight and entertain young children.
CREDITS
Synergies: Creatrix, Puku, Nelson Mandela Institute, Redisa
Literacy Partner: Puku Children’s Literature Foundation
Event Sponsor: Redisa
Youth Partners: Nelson Mandela Institute, Izwe Lebali, UpStart, Fingo Festival
Storyteller: Lynn Joffe
Musical Direction: Lynn Joffe
Photography: Lara Salomon
