Storytellers attract women to local cafés

AMMAN — The traditional scenes of a storyteller presenting an old story at a traditional cafe that are shown in TV series triggered the curiosity of Bara Amayrah to attend, a male-dominated café in downtown Amman. 

Amayrah noted that, in the past, the idea of visiting one of the old cafés in Amman’s city centre was not appealing at all. 

The scene has been changed thanks to a number of storytellers who joined forces to revive the art of storytelling and to draw a new kind of visitor into these cafés: women. 

“It was not acceptable for a woman to visit such cafés as it is all attended by men, but society has been changed now and there is no difference between women and men,” she told The Jordan Times as she was sitting at the Central Café on Saturday.

Al Moultqa and Al Balad Theatre, which are both under the umbrella of Hakaya, invited the three  storytellers Sally Shalabi, better known as Shalabieh Al Hakawatieh, Faisal Azzah and Majed Sabra to introduce stories of traditional and historical significance at the Central Cafe during Ramadan.

This bygone tradition of storytelling started to vanish due to modernity but these artists are trying to revive it, where a storyteller was the only way of entertainment people used to have during the old history of this region. 

Shalabi, the first female storyteller to stand in the middle of Central Café to present a story, said the aim behind this event is “to bring life into this old cultural venue through a traditional art”. 

She noted that the good thing is that the audience and the artist are newcomers: women. “The cafe was crammed with women during the past activities. We do not want to have the cafe and the art abandoned,” she told The Jordan Times ahead of her performance.  

She noted that her story focuses on participation, compassion, greed, love and patience. “These elements are highlighted through ordeals characters go through during the course of the story,” she said.  

Shalabi described people’s reaction during the performance as positive and described stories as “the mother of art”.

“Because without a story there is no theatre, no film, no picture, no song or poetry,” she added.  

Saif Minaam, the son of the cafe’s owner, said they wanted to host this event because they wanted to target a new segment of society who are women.

“Because it is known among society that the cafe is frequented by men so we wanted to change this outlook,” he told The Jordan Times, stressing that they also wanted to revive the art of storytelling because it is an art that is almost dead.  

Amayrah said she got bored of modern activities. “It is very important for children to attend such activities because it triggers their imagination,” said the mother of one boy.

Faisal Al Azzah, another participating storyteller, echoed Amayrah’s sentiment. “Internet and TV curb the imagination of people because you see visuals and you cannot imagine them, but the story encourages your imagination,” he added. 

Saturday’s night event was the last activity of storytelling during Ramadan.