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WOSAS : F702	WOSAS/CD224/track1 R743.wav
Sound recording, song; participatory song of African origin, led by Dasiy Keable a member of The Storytelling Unit, at the High Summer Storytelling Clubnight, in the Garden of No. 4 Shaa Road, Acton, London, 21st July 1984
Introduction to the clubnight by Daisy Keable, followed by song led by Daisy Keable, with audience participation.
audience:-	adult; contributing storytellers
recording quality
condition:-	fair
completeness:-	complete
duration:-	0 hours, 3 minutes, 48 seconds
The West London Storytelling Unit Clubnights or The Storytelling Unit Clubnights were begun by Ben Haggarty, TUUP and Daisy Keable in 1982 shortly after beginning to work together as the West London Storytelling Unit (W.L.S.T.U). They took place on roughly a fortnightly basis during the atumn and winter months, in community centres in Acton, Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith. The clubnights were an opportunity for anyone to come and tell a story, or perform music on the condition that it had a toe-hold in tradition. The performance of original poetry and the reading of original writing was actively discouraged as there were plenty of other fora for 'new writing' elsewhere in London. In 2007 Ben Haggarty explained that the clubnight format was in part inspired by the College of Storytellers, but with the aim of doing something less bourgeois, for a younger audience and which was not dominated by Idries Shah's mission to promote his vision of Sufi storytelling. The clubnights also took inspiration from the anarchy of the London Musicians Collective clubnight events in Camden. The clubnights led Ben Haggarty to inaugurate the First UK International Storytelling Festival at Battersea Arts Centre in London in January 1985. After the 1985 festival a few further clubnights were run, before ending in 1986. The clubnights were superseded by the formation of the Company of Storytellers who pioneered the touring of adult evening shows throughout the UK, and by the formation of the Crick Crack Club in 1987, which focused on the programming and development of professional storytellers, their performance skills and their repertoire for adult audiences.
The Storytelling Unit was born out of the West London Storytelling Unit (W.L.S.T.U) in 1983, with members Marva Cumberbatch, Pomme Clayton, Daisy Keable. In or around 1985 Daisy Keable and Marva Cumberbatch left the Storytelling Unit, at which point Ben Haggarty, (who had been a member of the W.L.S.T.U) joined and worked with Sally Pomme Clayton for a brief period before the group was disbanded. The increased interest and demand for storytelling performance for adults led to the formation of The Company of Storytellers in 1985.
singing:-	singer female / British / Norwegian / member of the Storytelling Unit
origin:-	Africa
	Flyer for the High Summer Storytelling Clubnight
	Flyer for the High Summer Storytelling Clubnight
	Click to enlarge images
administration:-	storyteller; promoter: Ben Haggarty storyteller: Daisy Keable; Georgiana Jerstad; Georgiana Keable storyteller; musician: TUUP; Godfrey Duncan
singing:-	Shaa Road, 4, Acton, London, England 21 Jul 1984 storytelling club: Storytelling Unit Clubnight storytelling club: High Summer Storytelling Clubnight
gift from:-	storyteller: Ben Haggarty

©  The London Centre for International Storytelling: 2007
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