OK, so sometimes formal documents aren’t the best way to deliver information. Despite essays, dissertations, books, and treatises being a necessary way to impart info, there are plenty of people who’d rather absorb such messages in a way befitting the hyper-speedy internet age. If you would like a fuller, longer version of this short article, please take a look at ‘THE REVENANT CYFARWYDD’ here on my Substack.
So here goes – an article.
It’s a sad reality that large swathes of our planet have dispensed with the oral traditions that used to provide a form of memory that lies beyond the capability of any individual – it was the memory of their lineage, their tribe, and even for their civilisation. From ancient religious traditions to the simple telling of tales around the fire, the music-backed histories performed by the Griots of West Africa to the revelations of past wisdom provided by the Cyfarwyddion of Cymru (my neck of the woods), it is seldom we see such practices come to the fore nowadays. Indeed, it is tragically common to see them die. These time-tested ways of preserving culture offer more than mere entertainment or a sense of community: it was an excellent means of sensemaking, a way of sharing the distilled wisdom and fostering healthy philosophical deliberation for all.
It is my contention that storytelling could still be.
“But what about all the news sites, university courses and Wikipedia articles? What the hell can some person jabbering about old stuff add?” asks some scooter-riding, vape-smoke addled zoomer that lives in my mind (the part that also seems to ignore what the youth of today is up to). It is true that today’s ubiquity of information is at a level never before seen in human history. The speed of acquiring it is similarly advanced. Understanding, however, seems not to have followed. For every fact presented there is a lie, for every logical conclusion there is some emotionally manipulative opinion. How do we tell? Often, we can’t. The sheer pace of the age doesn’t allow for sensible cognition. Our limbic systems are being tapped, subjected to the unthinking whims of out-of-control algorithms and the unethical lies spread for some “greater good“ or another. It doesn’t have to be this way. If we can find a way to embed storytellers into our communities, and to revive (or reform) a culture that can support them, we can begin to counter the predations of the now: be it nominally the ‘post-truth age’, the ‘crisis of meaning’, the ‘age of polarisation’, the ‘era climate/geopolitical/established order uncertainty’ or some other dystopian concept. I may have found a way.
Towards the end of 2021, the Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival set up an initiative for artists called ‘The Mycelium Hub’. Via this programme, storytellers (and artists who practice adjacent artforms) receive funding for their work, centred around geographical areas. This is paid in the form of a monthly stipend. The process of attaining a role in this programme is adjudicated by written bid application, outlining the nature of the work they wish to explore and practice within their pre-defined geographic areas. The role adopted by successful applicants is titled ‘cyfarwydd’. I was honoured to receive such a commission and began formulating a philosophically coherent model for my role. I decided to first focus etymologically: it is reasonable to consider, given the admittedly scant historical record, that the pre-modern Cyfarwydd tradition could be considered as being a dual role in modern parlance; Storyteller and Philosopher.
It is in this spirit that I have approached my role of Cyfarwydd. I decided that if I am to adopt the term Cyfarwydd (as opposed to, generically, ‘storyteller’ or ‘spoken word artist’), it’s my ethical responsibility to practice in a manner that a Medieval Cyfarwydd could recognise in principle if they were flung forward in time to today. To ensure this I have outlined some basic principles to be a foundation for my Cyfarwydd practice. These principles are as follows:
1. To perform Welsh tales (or tales in a Welsh cultural context) for the public in a manner that retains the central thrust of such tales in as unadulterated a way as if feasible.
2. To be a Cyfarwydd for a set area.
3. To provide context, philosophical and historical, to the tales in a non-pedagogical manner, separated from the performance of the tales – the tale holds the lesson, and can be considered one in and of itself. The Cyfarwydd should employ a Socratic approach, if any, in discussion of the tales and their contexts.
4. To study and improve on the practice of the Cyfarwydd; to hold and seek discussion with relevant experts in adjacent fields of media, within the arts, and in relevant areas of academia. This would aid in building a solid platform for epistemic accountability and philosophical coherence.
5. To eschew the didactic urge – The Cyfarwydd is a role that rests within the world of the Arts, Culture and Entertainment. Although political, social, and other forms of activism may be something other artists want to engage in, the notion that the Cyfarwydd (one seeking to preserve and advocate for traditional tales) could derive, cultivate or openly advocate for a fixed position in, say, contemporary politics in enacting the role, would be an act of laundering one’s own subjective opinion via the tradition. This is propaganda, and counter to the basic concept of the Cyfarwydd. That considered, life outside the role of the Cyfarwydd is not necessarily covered by this, where personal proclivities in these areas are unavoidable. This principle is best understood as being akin to the proscribed neutrality of a judge or a medical professional.
6. To be an advocate for Cymraeg alongside the heritage and the culture of Cymru. Further, to ensure that open discourse as to the nature of these aspects be maintained. Advocacy does not entail the Cyfarwydd set an all-encompassing definition of these elements themselves, rather to present that which is objective, and to discuss that which is not.
7. To endeavour in building and maintaining an environment whereby the artform of the Cyfarwydd can flourish, and thus the culture it rests within also.
8. To be of service in doing the same as outlined above, but for the arts in general – collaboration between artforms and their varied practitioners, as between the Cyfarwyddion and the Beirdd of old, is key.
These principles, after lengthy deliberation, consultation, and consideration, are still not entirely ‘set in stone’. As a part of the terms agreed upon for my role alongside Beyond the Border, for instance, I do engage with specific groups (dementia groups, young people from deprived backgrounds, pupil referral units), and may allow for practices beyond the scope of the principles outlined above. In this regard, the Cyfarwydd role as I choose to define it is secondary, supplemental, or not to consider it at all. I may don the cap of the Cyfarwydd at certain points during, say, engaging as an arts facilitator with a community group, but it is crucial to note that doing the work of an arts facilitator is not being a Cyfarwydd per se – a plumber may also be a soloist in their local choir. Does their singing render them no longer a plumber? Of course not, but their brilliant rendition of Gounod’s Ave Maria should not be why anyone chooses them to fix their leaky toilet. They can sing, they can fix toilets, these things are separate.
Further, I wholeheartedly welcome input from colleagues in the broader storytelling community, academics in relevant fields, and anyone else willing to engage in reasonable discussion on this subject. I am keen to improve this model, given the global reach I believe it can achieve. For now, however, I believe that these principles are a good working model, and ethically sound; I hope it would keep our time travelling Cyfarwydd from immediately tying me to a stake and building a bonfire beneath me.
This model can be adopted and adapted beyond my own cultural context – there are plenty of places and spaces where an embedded storytelling model could work. In fact, I believe that it may be sorely needed (I know it is here in Cymru/Wales)!
I would also like to propose the formation of an organisation for co-ordination of this model. Coordination on this model is not only a method to improve it but also provides evidence of quality for potential backers to draw upon – with several people seeking to employ this model, it becomes an attractive proposition for potential backers – local or national governments, NGOs, private companies/individuals or arts institutions, embedded storytelling should look like a worthy investment – there’s safety (of investment) in numbers.
This is, unfortunately, the bit I am least equipped to facilitate alone. So, in that spirit, I invite all of you who would like to employ, improve, or disseminate this model, or to begin in organising a community around it, to please contact me: cerijohnphillips@gmail.com
We can revive, we must maintain. Let us revive our cultures by reviving ourselves, becoming Cultural Revenants. One and all.
Diolch o nghalon i chwi oll.