Este boletín de noviembre de 2020 pretende centrarse en las voces de cuento a través de la distancia. Nos interesa el cuento en el medio audio, es decir, el cuento contado y sus posibilidades en este campo de la técnica relacionada con la reproducción, grabación y transmisión del sonido.

Son muchos los compañeros y compañeras que cuentan o han contado puntual o regularmente cuentos en la radio. Hay también otras plataformas virtuales que articulan, de una manera sencilla, la opción de los audios de cuentos contados, algunas tan populares como iVoox, Soundcloud... permiten alojar, compartir y difundir estos audios. Mención a parte merece el mundo del Podcast que sigue su avance imparable con una enorme variedad de plataformas (Apple Podcast, Spotify, Spreaker, Overcast, Pocket Cast, etc.) y de propuestas y en cantidad de oyentes, sin duda el Podcast se presenta como un recurso magnífico para la palabra dicha.

Al mismo tiempo, todas estas propuestas conviven con nuestro viejo compañero el teléfono, el primer transportador de la voz, un artificio que nos viene acompañando desde hace más de 165 años; y con las modernas propuestas de las redes sociales como WhatsApp, Telegram y Twitter (esta última permite una opción de audio desde hace unos meses). 

Para hablar de algunas cuestiones alrededor de los cuentos y los audios, sus posibilidades y también de los problemas que plantean, hemos preparado el siguiente boletín que cuenta con estos invitados y sus textos.

Those of us who dedicate our lives to storytelling are united in sending a 

message of support and solidarity to the whole of society with respect to the crisis resulting from illness due to the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Just like the characters in the best tales, we find ourselves in the middle of a dense

forest, with a feeling that the wolf is lurking in the darkness. But we know we are not alone, because someone always appears to help us out of the forest or the wolf's stomach! In this story we all count, and our collective solidarity, effort and care are our spells against the virus and its effects.

So the storytellers are asking you to tell, make up, read and listen to stories, anecdotes or happenings

in order to cheat time,

in order to take a trip without leaving home,

in order to smile or tremble through the most incredible adventures,

in order to remember the elderly and all the stories they have told us,

in order to recognise ourselves in joy, pain or fear,

in order to let the world spin for a moment in which nothing matters except being together at that very moment.

For our part, we will continue to make up and tell stories in our homes and through 

social media. We do not yet know the end of this story, or whether we will all live happily ever after, but what we do know is that the fear we are feeling is shared and does not make us less brave, but makes us more human and fragile. 

Just like the characters in the best tales, some day, when all this is over, we will have been transformed, and we will have new stories to tell.

Because storytelling is a balsam for days of confinement with thousands of years of proven effectiveness behind it and which once again must bring humanity together around the fire, until the night is through.

This manifesto was written in March 2020 by representatives of all the storytelling associations in Spain: AEDA, Spanish Professional Oral Tradition Association – ANIN, Storytelling Association (Catalonia) – GNOA, Andalusian Oral Tradition Guild – MANO, Madrid Oral Tradition Association – NANO, Storytellers' Organisation (Community of Valencia) – NOGA, Galician Oral Tradition Collective – TAGORAL, Canaries Association of the Oral Tradition.

Spanish

AEDA is an entity that has always shown its support and interest in the project of an European federation of storytelling. Since FEST beginnings, we have considered AEDA part of the federation and we have contributed and collaborated in different areas.

Nevertheless, we have been noticing that the FEST organization and its internal functioning are not in accordance with the principles that we understand belong to an entity like this in matters like the internal administration or the transmission of information to all its members. That is why we renounce to continue being a member of FEST.

We are sorry to have made such a drastic decision, but we trust that in a not too distant future the situation can revert.