Voice of the Fire

A Tibetan folk tale about the stupidity of humans...

This is a Romanian Jewish Tale taken from a German collection from 1902. There are some familiar motifs in it, but it has a quite peculiar flavour.

The Sorceress's Head is a fast moving and irreverent version of the tale of Perseus and Medusa. It was taken from Italian Folktales, collected by Italo Calvino.

Momo Kapor was a Serbian artist and writer, a satirist in turns gentle and piercing - I picked up his book "A Guide to the Serbian Mentality" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5289153-a-guide-to-the-serbian-mentality) last year in Belgrade, so let me take you on a quick tour of the Myths of Belgrade Cuisine, courtesy of Mister Kapor.

I don't know if it's easier to propagate stereotypes today (if you study history you'll realize that stereotypes aren't hard to propagate or spread, even with minimal media - a voice is generally enough) but this story was told to me sometime during travels in Morocco and I sometimes think of it when the term "immigrant" is tossed around as if it always meant the same and as if everyone who leaves a place for another place means to stay there forever. A part of me is nomadic, so this perspective comes more easily.

Coyote, one of the favourite tricksters here at Voice of the Fire, is at it again. Now he takes a page from the book of Prometheus and wants to bring divine gifts to...well, mostly himself.

This version is based on a legend first reported in 1939.

Embers are the actual stories of Voice of the Fire. Here I showcase and tell stories from different regions of the world.

Coyote Kills the Giant is a trickster myth of the Flathead Indians - this particular version was recorded by the American anthropologist Louisa McDermott in 1901.

Voice of the Fire is back in 2019!

The first Whispers of the Fire is a story of mine - a childhood story of a strange (and entirely un-haunted) house. Enjoy.

Voice of the Fire is a podcast, dedicated to all forms of storytelling.

Episode number 6 of Voice of the Fire arrives with a bit of a delay.

We stay in Northern Europe for our next interview. Torgrim Mellum Stene is one of the most original modern storytellers active in Europe today. Under the alias Kloverknekten (The Jack of Clubs) he has performed personal and mythical tales, war stories and story jams all over the world.

We talk to him about his inspirations, co-operations with his friends and new and old projects. Tune in for a fascinating hour, all about stories.

http://www.kloverknekten.no/en

In this episode of Voice of the Fire we talk to Markus Luukkonen, the foremost Finnish performance storyteller about his development as a teller, his unusual tours (the "Wilderness Theatre") and collaborations ("Three Troubadours") and a new piece detailing the Kalevala, the Finnish Ur-epic.

You can find more information about Markus on his website: https://markusluukkonen.com/

The "Three Troubadours" are touring all of this year and you can find out more about them here: http://www.3troubadours.com/