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Kamini's Story
 Storytelling
has always been vital for Kamini Ramachandran, from her earliest
memories of her grandparents telling her stories to her efforts in
continuing this storytelling tradition with her two young sons everyday
since they were six months old.
Fluent
in both English and Malay, Kamini
studied
English Literature & Language at the University of Reading (UK) and
taught Speech and Drama privately in Kuala Lumpur before becoming a
mother. An avid collector of Children’s Literature, Kamini is especially
interested in
Malaysian stories (such as legends from Borneo, beautiful stories from
Langkawi, the clever animal tales of Sang Kancil and Buaya, and lesser
known Orang Asli stories) as she still feels the pull of jungle spirits,
having grown up in the jungles of Pahang, Perak and Johor. While she is
comfortable telling stories to children using puppets, kamishibai
boards, masks and songs, she is also adept at telling stories for
adults, drawing on her preference for darker, ambiguous, other-realm
tales. Her adult storytelling repertoire includes original stories based
on personal experience (e.g. ‘The Dato Tree’) and popular urban legends
(e.g. ‘The Karak Highway Incident’).
Presently a
Singapore resident, Kamini joined forces with Verena Tay to found
MoonShadow Stories in Nov 2004
to
promote
the lost art of the oral narrative. Both Kamini and Verena strongly
believe that children will benefit if the beauty and wonder of
storytelling is first re-introduced to adults. Hence, they were the
first contemporary storytellers in Singapore to focus on storytelling
for adults. Since 2005, MoonShadow Stories has been busy telling stories
to adults and children at The Substation, the Armenian Church, various
museums and other venues in Singapore.
In
addition, Kamini helped found the Storytelling Association (Singapore)
in early 2006, serving as its current President (2008/09), Secretary
(2007/08) and pro-tem Secretary (2006/7), as well as organising various activities on behalf of the SAS.
Besides telling stories under the auspices of the SAS, she is also an
active teller within the Storytellers Circle (the special interest group
of the Society of Reading & Literacy) and as part of Talespin, the adult
storyteller arm of the Asian Storytelling Network.
Kamini
has gained an international presence as a storyteller. She represented
Malaysia in the Storytellers’ Showcase 2005 organised by the National
Book Development Council (Singapore). As part of a special SAS
sub-committee, she was instrumental in helping the NBDCS to organise the
Asian Storytelling Congress and the Storytelling Showcase that formed
part of the 1st Singapore International Storytelling Festival
(2006). During the SIFF 2006, she told stories at the Storytelling
Showcase and Sayang Singapore. Since 2005, Kamini has frequently hosted World
Storytelling Day (htttp://www.storytellingday.net)
during March at her home for passionate
storytellers in Singapore with an evening of eating, drinking and
storytelling.
Drawing
on her extensive knowledge of stories and the storytelling craft, Kamini
has provided storytelling consultancy services for a variety of
educators and educational institutions. Since 2005, teachers have been
asking Kamini for permission to use her version of ‘Mahsuri’ in their
classroom drama studies. PhD candidates in education have chatted for
long hours with Kamini about the art of storytelling. As a parent
volunteer, Kamini has set up a programme training student librarians to
become effective storytellers at Stamford Primary School since the
beginning of 2006; she is committed to these weekly sessions where she
hopes to encourage the student’s enthusiasm for library books through
stories. In June 2007, the Nanyang Polytechnic’s School of Media and
Design appointed her as Co-Director of its folktale animation project.
The
Singapore media is also fond of featuring Kamini’s talents as a
professional storyteller. During 2005 and 2006, she told stories on live
radio at WKRZ 91.3FM on a regular basis. More recently, she has been
interviewed on radio programmes such as ‘The Living Room’, ‘The
Breakfast Club’ and ‘Passion People’ (93.8Live) about her work as a
storyteller. The New Paper has also written a feature article on her
life as a professional storyteller.
Kamini's Storytelling Resume
Click here for Kamini Ramachandran's full
storytelling resume (as of 26 Mar 2008)
Some Reviews About
Kamini as a Storyteller
“The other
talented storyteller was Kamini Ramichandran, whose calm nature and
soothing voice made listening to her tales a real pleasure...
Ramichandran paced her story well and her use of pauses succeeded in
making the audience hang on to her every word. Her success in engaging
the audience was probably due to the fact that she loves storytelling to
children and has been doing it at pre-schools and private parties.”
~ Nadia
Binte Ibrahim, ‘Once Upon a Time…’, Review of The Male Instinct,
Storytelling for Adults by MoonShadow Stories, 9 July 2005, The
Flying Inkpot Theatre Reviews,
http://inkpot.com/theatre/05reviews/0709,maleinst,ni.html (last
accessed: 6 February 2008)
“The story
that fascinated and mortified me the most was one told by Kamini called
The Orang Utan's Bride. It is a story born of Borneo about the
sea gypsy, his beautiful bride, Fatimah of the chestnut eyes, and the
Orang Utan who makes her his prisoner on the top of a tall, tall durian
tree. The climax to that tale was absolutely harrowing. I shan't spoil
it by revealing.”
~ Chand,
‘Spooks up their Sleeves. Supernatural Weaves’, Review of The
Unnatural,
Storytelling for Adults by MoonShadow Stories, Oct 2005, The Ridge,
2005 Holiday Issue, p. 18
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