![]() Often, the events serve as public forum to discuss social issues or process trauma from war and other forms of violence. Others are heartbreaking, like the woman who broke down in tears describing how her favorite son had been killed amid fighting between rival neighborhoods in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon. Some of the stories are humorous – like a joint mother-son account of one young man’s attempt to run away from home at age 14 and pursue a life of poetry. In the old days, the traditional hakawati would recount legends, fables or stories from the Quran the new storytelling tradition is often more personal. But they also build on the legacy of the hakawati, or storyteller, who was long a treasured source of entertainment - and sometimes the only one available. Some of the new events follow a similar format to The Moth, the popular American event and podcast that features live storytellers. Simav was taking part in a new wave of oral storytelling in Beirut and elsewhere in the Middle East in recent years that has reimagined an ancient tradition in the region in a 21st century context. ![]() News stories just don’t portray the charm and the pain and the humanity enough.” “The most compelling things I know and learned didn’t make it into a news story. “Once upon a time, it was a sunny day, like usual, five years ago in Aleppo…” “Now I want to tell a story about when my dad’s life was threatened in Syria.” “Good evening,” Simav began in English, then switched to Arabic. If she was nervous, the only thing that betrayed her was a tendency to fidget with her hands. Thirteen-year-old Simav Wooleh took the stage with a disarming smile in front of the audience gathered in a Beirut café. A woman performs at a Hakaya event at Dar Cafe in Beirut.
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