AILSA CHANG, HOST:
There's a new podcast that, at least on the surface, is about telling children's folk tales.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "FOLKTALES FROM SUDAN")
HANA BABA: These were stories that were told to me by my mom, my uncle Elbagir (ph), my aunties. They were handed-down stories about all kinds of characters - mean stepsisters, magical treasures, brave girls escaping scary ogres.
CHANG: But it is important that these stories are from Sudan, which, on this show, we've been hearing a lot about as a place devastated by a civil war that is now entering a third year and as a home to the world's largest and most devastating humanitarian crisis, according to the U.N. So the podcast "Folktales From Sudan" tells us about a culture that is currently under attack.
Host Hana Baba joins us today from member station KALW in San Francisco, where she also hosts a daily news show. Welcome, Hana.
BABA: Thank you for having me, Ailsa.
CHANG: Thank you for being with us. So your family is Sudanese. You came to the U.S. when you were very little, and it sounds like you grew up listening to many of these stories yourself, yeah?
BABA: Yeah. My mother would tell me these stories in our very American, Houston, Texas, home in the 1980s. And then we'd go on visits to Sudan, and my uncle, our main storyteller, Elbagir, would tell us these stories as well. And it was this incredible kind of performance of folk tales that we would get.
CHANG: Oh, he would, like, act out the characters?
BABA: He would totally act out all the characters - the ghoul and (singing) the princess.
CHANG: Really? Oh.
BABA: And so it was really theatrical.
CHANG: And there's a wide range of these tales. Like, you lay out in the trailer for the podcast that Sudanese folklore covers such a broad variety. So far, there's been a story about a father and his three sons, one of whom compares his love for his father to his love of salt...
BABA: Yes (laughter).
CHANG: ...Which does not sit well with the dad (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "FOLKTALES FROM SUDAN")
BABA: (As character) Really - salt?
The father was angry and said, (as character) what? What kind of answer is that? What kind of a love is that? Your brothers said such valuable things like gold and silver, and you say you love me like you love cheap, cheap salt? Hmph (ph).
CHANG: There's also another story about a boy and a talking bird, one about an adventurous goat. Is there anything thematic that you think ties some of these stories together?
BABA: I think the overall theme is the idea of this is from the people, right? This is - it's ancient and just coming from a place that is organic storytelling from people who were illiterate, right? Like, this is from the earth. This is from heritage. And that's the beauty of it.
CHANG: Absolutely. Especially, you know, as we mentioned, this podcast, it's coming out during a terrible war in Sudan, and many people who hear about Sudan today only hear about it in the context of these horrible news stories. What do you think these folk tales can tell us about the country?
BABA: I am a big believer in cultural diplomacy, in that when you hear the music, read the literature, taste the food of a people, you come closer to them. You're connected to them, you care about them. I want people to be able to - when they hear the word Sudan, to think maybe of a story. Maybe they think about a beautiful princess that comes down the hill in her shimmering gown. And that's just a different image that I would love for people to have, in addition to the struggle and the strife and the conflict, which is a part of our story, but it's not the full story.
CHANG: It is not the only story.
BABA: Right.
CHANG: Are your family members still in Sudan, currently?
BABA: I do have family members in Sudan, in fact.
CHANG: How are they?
BABA: They say they're well 'cause they don't want to worry anybody, but we see the news, we hear the WhatsApp messages. We know it is a very difficult time. The very uncle that told me the stories had to flee the country and go to safety. That house that I heard the stories in...
CHANG: Yeah.
BABA: ...Is empty.
CHANG: Wow.
BABA: And so that is telling as well, the idea that our elders are aging and they're traumatized now. And that really puts an urgency for me to tell these stories at this time.
CHANG: Yes. Hana Baba is the host of the podcast "Folktales From Sudan" from KALW. Thank you so much for joining us, Hana.
BABA: Thank you, Ailsa. It was a pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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