I never did pack a suitcase. I collected no stamps in my passport. I didn’t get any coins from foreign lands. My travels were all done right here at my computer while I listened to the Tales From Around The World a storytelling CD from Mike Lockett the Normal Storyteller. www.mikelockett.com and available for download through www.cdbaby.com
It’s that time of year when libraries are kicking off Summer Reading Programs. This years theme in many libraries is “One World Many Stories”. How perfect a fit the CD Tales From Around the World is to that theme. The story adventure begins with a classic Anansi story from Ghana, we were right there the sounds of the great river slipping past and the spirits singing. Soon I was swept away through Russia, England and Ireland. I spent time with a lizard and a deer down Mexico way and moved round the far side of the globe again before stopping for my favorite in the collection a story from France ” The Wooden Shoe Christmas”. I left that snowy scene and in moments was in the sunny tropics for another Anansi Spider tale.
Mike Lockett pulled out all the stops as the saying goes, this CD storytelling collection done with sound effects, bits of music, voiced dialects, and delivered just like you were sitting in front of him made for great listening. It is a great travel CD in two ways, one for its broad sampling of world stories, the other pop Tales From Around The World, in the car CD player on the way to vacation and collect some back seat Peace!
Stop by Mike Lockett’s website maybe you can catch a live performance of Tales From Around the World with the Normal Storyteller near you!
www.mikelockett.com
Carol, Your words are most kind. But, you are oh so correct. The intent in my making the CD was to take listeners to far off lands they might never be able to see in person. In each story – I tried to use a few vocabulary words that come from the culture that originaly told the story. I also tried to use dialects that were as close to the original as possible. The music even came from local musicians from central Illinois – playing folk music from the countries the stories came from. I do admit getting caught in one area, however. I listed the Chinese Nightengale as a Chinese story – yet knowing full well it hade been written by the great Hand Christian Anderson, a Dane. But – that is not the hidden secret of the album. I knew that readers and storytellers would figure that one out. The secret is that while using authentic music with each story – I did opt to use a beautiful Korean lullaby with the “Chinese” selection of the Nightengale story.
Best to everyone who reads Carol’s wonderful blogs and to story listeners and story lovers everywhere.
Mike Lockett, The Normal Storyteller
http://www.mikelockett.com