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Al-Qaskhun
Al-Qaskhun (, from the Persian compound قصه خون ''qesse khun'' "storyteller"), also known as al-Hakawati (), is a historic occupation regarding a professional narrator that specializes in storytelling in Iraq, most notably Baghdad. These storytellers were notable for their emotional and engaging narration skills that kept their audiences engaged in their stories. The storytellers usually sat in Baghdadi coffeehouses and narrated various stories and folklore on benches. The profession is also associated with the popular ''One Thousand and One Nights'' and its main narrator Scheherazade. Description Storytelling in Baghdad goes back to the Abbasid Caliphate period in which medieval Baghdad flourished and stored many scientists, poets, entertainers, and educated people. Among the entertainers and performers were storytellers who were publicly significant, usually standing in the minbar of a mosque to narrate stories, but were sometimes unwelcome by the intellectual leadership ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dar Al-Atraqchi Café
Dar al-Atraqchi Café () is a heritage café located in Baghdad, Iraq. The café is known for preserving the old Baghdadi atmosphere that modern cafes in the city ignore. It contains preserved antiquities and artifacts that were used in old Baghdadi homes, in addition to Arabian-style drawings and decorations on the walls and doors of the café. The café is also famous for organizing antique trade auctions which are famous with merchants. Background The café was opened in 2013 and was built in traditional Baghdadi architecture. The owner of the café, Abd al-Razzaq al-Atraqchi, wanted to make a Café culture of Baghdad, traditional Baghdadi café as well as create a house for old preserved antiques even as the antique trade in Baghdad started to decline after 2003 due to the Iraq War. The decision was made to display aspects of Baghdadi heritage in order to preserve them and introduce them to foreign tourists. The café gets its name from the Iraqi Arabic word "al-Atraqchi" whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Persian Language
Persian (), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan in three mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible standard language, standard varieties, namely Iranian Persian (officially known as ''Persian''), Dari, Dari Persian (officially known as ''Dari'' since 1964) and Tajik language, Tajiki Persian (officially known as ''Tajik'' since 1999).Siddikzoda, S. "Tajik Language: Farsi or not Farsi?" in ''Media Insight Central Asia #27'', August 2002. It is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan, as well as within other regions with a Persianate society, Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Ira ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second largest city in Iraq in terms of population and area after the capital Baghdad, with a population of over 3.7 million. Mosul is approximately north of Baghdad on the Tigris river. The Mosul metropolitan area has grown from the old city on the western side to encompass substantial areas on both the "Left Bank" (east side) and the "Right Bank" (west side), as locals call the two riverbanks. Mosul encloses the ruins of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on its east side. Mosul and its surroundings have an ethnically and religiously diverse population; a large majority of its population are Arabs, with Assyrians, Turkmens, and Kurds, and other, smaller ethnic minorities comprising the rest of the city's population. Sunni Islam is the largest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oral Tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985), reported statements from present generation which "specifies that the message must be oral statements spoken, sung or called out on musical instruments only"; "There must be transmission by word of mouth over at least a generation". He points out, "Our definition is a working definition for the use of historians. Sociologists, linguists or scholars of the verbal arts propose their own, which in, e.g., sociology, stresses common knowledge. In linguistics, features that distinguish the language from common dialogue (linguists), and in the verbal arts features of form and content that define art (folklorists)."Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: "Methodology and African Prehistory", 1990, ''UNESCO International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a Gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Storytelling
Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ..., theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation or instilling moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include Plot (narrative), plot, Character (arts), characters and point of view (literature), narrative point of view. The term "storytelling" can refer specifically to oral storytelling but also broadly to techniques used in other media to unfold or disclose the narrative of a story. Historical perspective Storytelling, intertwined with the development of mythology, mythologies, predates writing. The e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pingshu
''Pingshu'' () or ''pinghua'' () refers to the traditional Han Chinese performing art of storytelling with no musical accompaniment. It is better known as ''pingshu'' in northern China and ''pinghua'' in southern China. Performing art Pingshu was extremely popular in the 1980s, when the Chinese people were able to afford radios, through which many of such radio drama programs were transmitted to every household. People, young and old, would stick to the radio when they had the time, listening to these storytellings, many of which originated from ancient Chinese history. In the countryside, farmers would take radios to their fields and listen to the stories while they were working. In cities, old men would sit in a comfortable bamboo chair enjoying the stories while sipping tea. Many stories such as '' General Yue Fei'' (), the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' (), '' Cavalier with White Eyebrows'' (), and '' Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties'' () gained popularity among ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oral Storytelling
Oral storytelling is an ancient and intimate tradition between the storyteller and their audience. The storyteller and the listeners are physically close, often seated together in a circular fashion. The intimacy and connection is deepened by the flexibility of oral storytelling which allows the tale to be moulded according to the needs of the audience and the location or environment of the telling. Listeners also experience the urgency of a creative process taking place in their presence and they experience the empowerment of being a part of that creative process. Storytelling creates a personal bond with the teller and the audience. The flexibility of oral storytelling extends to the teller as well. Each teller will incorporate their own personality and may choose to add characters into the story. As a result, there will be numerous variations of a single story. Some tellers consider anything outside the narrative as extraneous, while other storytellers choose to enhance thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gusans
Gusans ( hy, գուսան; Parthian for poet-musician or minstrel) were creative and performing artists - singers, instrumentalists, dancers, storytellers, and professional folk actors in public theaters of Parthia and ancient and medieval Armenia. In Armenia, the term gusan is often used as a synonym for ashugh, a singer-poet and bard. Etymology The word ''gusan'' is first mentioned in early Armenian texts of V c., e.g. Faustus of Byzantium, Moses of Chorene, etc. In Parsian language the earliest known evidence is from ''Vis o Rāmin'' by Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani in the eleventh century. It was originally thought to have been a personal name. However in the 19th century Kerovbe Patkanian identified it as a common word possibly meaning "musician" and suggested that it was an obsolete Persian term, currently found in a form of a loanword in Armenian. In 1934 Harold Walter Bailey linked to origin of the word to the Parthian language. In Hrachia Acharian's opinion the word was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Griot
A griot (; ; Manding: jali or jeli (in N'Ko: , ''djeli'' or ''djéli'' in French spelling); Serer: kevel or kewel / okawul; Wolof: gewel) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition and is often seen as a leader due to their position as an advisor to royal personages. As a result of the former of these two functions, they are sometimes called bards. They also act as mediators in disputes. Occurrence and naming Many griots today live in many parts of West Africa and are present among the Mande peoples ( Mandinka or Malinké, Bambara, Soninke etc.), Fulɓe ( Fula), Hausa, Songhai, Tukulóor, Wolof, Serer,Unesco. Regional Office for Education in Africa, ''Educafrica, Numéro 11'', (ed. Unesco, Regional Office for Education in Africa, 1984), p. 110Hale, Thomas Albert, ''Griots and Griottes: Masters of Words and Music'', Indiana University Press (1998), p. 176, Mossi, Dagomba, Maur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harun Al-Rashid
Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar , أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn al-Rashīd) was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 until his death. His reign is traditionally regarded to be the beginning of the Islamic Golden Age. His epithet "al-Rashid" translates to "the Orthodox", "the Just", "the Upright", or "the Rightly-Guided". Harun established the legendary library Bayt al-Hikma ("House of Wisdom") in Baghdad in present-day Iraq, and during his rule Baghdad began to flourish as a world center of knowledge, culture and trade. During his rule, the family of Barmakids, which played a deciding role in establishing the Abbasid Caliphate, declined gradually. In 796, he moved his court and government to Raqqa in present-day Syria. A Frankish mission came to offer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sandman (comic Book)
''The Sandman'' is a comic book written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics. Its artists include Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc Hempel, Bryan Talbot, and Michael Zulli, with lettering by Todd Klein and covers by Dave McKean. The original series ran for 75 issues from January 1989 to March 1996. Beginning with issue No. 47, it was placed under DC's Vertigo imprint, and following Vertigo's retirement in 2020, reprints have been published under DC's Black Label imprint. The main character of ''The Sandman'' is Dream, also known as Morpheus and other names, who is one of the seven Endless. The other Endless are Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium (formerly Delight), and Destruction (also known as 'The Prodigal'). The series is famous for Gaiman's trademark use of anthropomorphic personification of various metaphysical entities, while also blending mythology and history in its horror setting within the DC Universe. ''The Sandman'' is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their first comic under the DC banner being published in 1937. The majority of its publications take place within the fictional DC Universe and feature numerous List of DC Comics characters, culturally iconic heroic characters, such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash (DC Comics character), Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Cyborg (comics), Cyborg. It is widely known for some of the most famous and recognizable teams including the Justice League, the Justice Society of America, the Suicide Squad, and the Teen Titans. The universe also features a large number of well-known supervillains such as the Joker (character), Joker, Lex Luthor, the Cheetah (character), Cheetah, the Eobard Thawne, Reverse-Flash, Black Manta, Sinestro, and Darkseid. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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