"And The Eyes Have It"

Romance of Volcano and Ocean

This story of the origins of planet earth is so powerful and beautiful as told by the great, dreamy eyed writer and storyteller, Denise Valentine. Below you can click and hear one fabulous voice tell the story of the Volcano, "Oyoye", and "Ocean" or "Abzu,- the watery deep."

Its underpinnings are of a male, female relationship, but it is spiritual, it is African, it is living and breathing and is therefore ripe for being told in ways that resonate with all realities, including Same Gender Loving ones.

This work as with all Black Storytelling is an example of that great apex of Black artistry, ancestry and culture, and it is the perfect exhibition of the depth with which African story telling and oral tradition are unparalleled.





Excerpt of "Romance of Volcano and Ocean"

" . . .Before the western view of the earth as just a cloud of dirt, she was worshiped in nearly every culture as a Goddess. The people were intimately tied to the land because they knew she was sacred - and alive, and they knew the gifts and the chants that pleased her.

The volcano, the fire in the center of the earth is a hot, dense, molten core. Her name . . . is Oyoye . . . and she sits in the tongue of the ocean. Her skin is as black as coal - her hair as red as flames . . ."




"Romance of Volcano and Ocean"









Imakhu's African Storytelling/Music Performance

"Highlights of Imakhu's performance ,"Kuumba! Stories & Music from the Motherland's Children" and post-show artist interview at Walt Whitman Arts Center and CCS-TV in Camden, NJ."










"All I Wanted Was a Cup of Soup"

U People Story











Historian Karen Wilson on Storytelling










Baba The Storyteller









Brer Rabbit's Dance

Diane Ferlatte

Out of the mouths of AFricans.

(Sorry to say this doesn't play to the end).































Thumbnail and closeup images are of the eyes of Storyteller Denise Valentine.

Reach out to Denise Valentine at www.denisevalentine.com/


















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