SBA’s Cedarberg Stories at Clanwilliam Wildflower Festival
The SBA’s stories project, led by SBA chair Dr Sandra Prinsloo, aims since 2015 to extract individuals’ stories from oblivion through visits to unique environments, thus complementing and preserving our country’s language and cultural heritage. To this end, a recording team visited the Cederberg area and captured the stories of the people of Eselbank and Heuningvlei.
With the stories as a celebration of the unique character of the Cederberg area, it was therefore a logical decision to link the launch of the Cederberg Stories to another celebration of the Cederberg landscape – the Clanwilliam Wildflower Festival.
The video installation of Cederberg Stories was on view from August 25 to September 5 at the Old Prison Museum in Clanwilliam.
During the festival, visitors could travel through the video narratives – all along Christmas Pass along the Donkey Bank – and for a moment see the world through the eyes of 8 storytellers who share their intimate experiences from days gone by.
Intimate conversations, place-specific humor and language, as well as extreme weather conditions that later become a character within the story, contribute to the unique end product that can be presented as a historical source to others while giving recognition to the community in the spotlight.
Met die stories as ‘n viering van die unieke karakter van die Cederberg omgewing, was dit dus ‘n logiese besluit om die bekendstelling van die Sederbergstories te koppel aan ‘n ander viering van die Cederberg landskap – die Clanwilliam Veldblomfees.
Water idioms come to life in the mouth of the speaker
Idioms are often described as the spice of language. The SBA’s multilingual idiom book, We all drink from the same stream , which was published earlier this year, is aimed at capturing the colour and flavour of language and also cultural heritage that go hand in hand with it. However, to make sure that this neatly bottled spice rack is used, it was decided to create a sounded version of the idiom book to show how these flavours brighten the speaker’s palette in context.
The existing book has been supplemented by short dramatised audio clips that show how the idioms in Afrikaans, isiXhosa and English, respectively, come to life in the mouth of the speaker and is now available for free on the website. The announcement was launched in celebration of International Literacy Day on 8 September.
Veteran actresses Thoko Ntshinga and Sandra Prinsloo were among the voice artists who performed the interpreted scenes for the idiom book.
Not only are the audio recordings enriching listening pleasure for the language lover, but it also provides a practical and trendy angle for teachers who want to give life to idioms while teaching.
Click here to listen to the short dramatized audio recording of each idiom and experience the coluor and flavour of language.
Die veteraan-aktrises Thoko Ntshinga en Sandra Prinsloo was onder meer deel van die stemkunstenaars wat die vertolking van die verklankte tonele vir die idiomeboek behartig het.
Nie net is die klankopnames verrykende luistergenot vir die taalliefhebber nie, maar dit bied ook ‘n praktiese en byderwetse invalshoek vir onderwysers wat lewe aan idiome wil gee tydens onderrig.
Klik hier om te luister na die kort gedramatiseerde klankopname van elke idioom en beleef die kleur en geur van taal.
