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an Ananse story

Sound recording, story; an Afro-Caribbean trickster tale, how and why or aetiological tale, and Ananse story told by Jan Blake at The Crick Crack Club at The Old Farm House Pub, Kentish Town, London 17th February 1993

Introduction to Jan Blake by Master of Ceremonies Ben Haggarty, followed by a recount by Jan Blake about her recent experiences collecting stories in Jamaica, and the source of this story (a Maroon women Muriel Winn), followed by story told by Jan Blake. Ananse and Fire-fly are fishing together. Ananse is jealous of Fire-fly's catch, steals his fish and hooks them on the end of his line. Ananse takes the fish to Tiger, who feeds them all to his family, leaving Ananse hungry. Ananse persuades Tiger to let him shave him, and begins to tie Tiger to a chair. Ananse's enemy sees this taking place and warns Tiger. Tiger breaks free, chases Ananse and pulls off one of his legs, giving Ananse his limp.

Programme note reads - The ever popular Jan Blake will have just got back from a field trip collecting Jamaican song and story. Expect a lively evening of field recordings and her own retellings of the new material she has found.

audience:- adult
    recording quality
condition:- good
completeness:- complete
duration:- 0 hours, 8 minutes, 58 seconds

This is one of a series of recordings made by Marc Jobst to create a pilot of a series of radio programmes entitled Cracking Tales for broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Pilots were made, but the programme was never broadcast.

The Crick Crack Club was founded by Ben Haggarty in 1987 and was the first regular performance storytelling club to be established in the UK. From the outset, the club operated with a programme of storytellers put in place by an artistic director, Ben Haggarty. It had no 'floor spots' whereby anyone had the opportunity to tell stories. The club was created in response to a recognised need for there to be sufficient UK storytellers to perform competent, formal evening shows for adult audiences in the proposed 1989, 15 day long, Third International Storytelling Festival at London's South Bank Centre. In the autumn of 1987 the first season of 26 weekly Crick Crack Club events was launched in a pub theatre (The Chair) in Ladbrook Grove, with the expressed aim of trying out new artists and providing an opportunity for established artists to develop their skills and repertoire for adults. Jenny Pearson of the Kew Storytellers helped Ben Haggarty with the organisation of this first season.The Crick Crack Club promoted weekly events in various venues in London between 1987 and 1995, and then monthly events at the Spitz from 1995 to 2001. During this time it also organised numerous monthly events and mini-festivals in regional arts venues throughout England. In 1991/92 wth £10,000 from the Arts Council Literature department it tried to establish a touring circuit promoting 120 events in a year. Daniel Morden gave invaluable administrative support during this period. In 1993, in partnership with David Ambrose of St. Donats Arts Centre in Wales, the Crick Crack Club Club created the Beyond the Border International Festival of Storytelling and Epic Singing. Ben Haggarty co-directed Beyond the Border from 1993 to 2005. Since 2001 the Crick Crack Club has worked on a peripatetic basis, programming in various venues and in partnership with various organisations, and in 2003 began a long-term partnership with Barbican Education in London, to promote 9 events a year in the Barbican Pit Theatre

storytelling:- storyteller: Jan Blake
female / British Jamaican / African Caribbean / British / born 18.03.1964

storytelling:- Master of Ceremonies; Crick Crack Club Artistic Director: Ben Haggarty
male / British / born 30.11.1958 / occupation performance storyteller; promoter

origin:- Jamaica
Afro-Caribbean


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Crick Crack Club season flyer and event listing

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use:- BBC Radio 4
Marc Jobst

radio broadcast pilot


administration & programming:- administrator; programmer: The Crick Crack Club
administrator; programmer; Artistic Director: Ben Haggarty


storytelling:- Kentish Town, London, England: The Old Farm House Pub
17 Feb 1993
storytelling club: The Crick Crack Club
public performance: Traveller's Tales 3. with Jan Blake
radio production


gift from:- Marc Jobst


©  The London Centre for International Storytelling: 2007
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