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: 4 Feb to 10 Mar 2006
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Folke Tegetthoff's 'Tales from
Heaven'

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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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