Tale-Telling Tradition Techniques in Africa and Soap Opera: The Case of Tanzania

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Author

Herbert F. Makoye (PhD)

June 3–7, 2003

Summary

This paper explores the use of radio soap operas in Tanzania and proposes that the acceptance and success of these programmes is largely because of the tradition of tale telling in Tanzania. "The nature of communication or the exchange of ideas in tale telling and in radio soap operas may be similar to other process of communication in which the communicator transfers a message to his/her listener. However, the additional factor of entertainment that the listeners/ audience experience is what in most makes the difference when compared with other channels of communication."

The author states that there are a number of points of comparison between radio soaps and traditional tale telling:

The patterning of episodes of the story is most important single factor. In radio soap operas like in tale telling, for example, it is very important for a writer to relate images and actions in the story to a theme or a comment on a specific aspect of human behavior among the target audience. The actions or behaviors in the story must be capable of providing an overview about some of the recurrent concerns or values of the community.
Another factor that is highly employed in tale telling is the technique of elimination of boredom during the performance. This is done through the employment of other art forms like songs, dances, poems and so on, instead of solely depending on spoken words. This technique is highly exploited in Tanzanian radio soap operas.
Another technique employed in both radio soap and storytelling is the playing with the fluctuation of audience sensation. In both forms the technique is attempted through the paralleling together of two or more characters or stories that the audience is confronted with as an action progresses. In long running radio soap opera Twende na Wakati, for example, one story started with two friends (Mkwaju and Shime). They were both employed as truck drivers and were staying in the same house. At the beginning they seemed to have the same characteristics. But when the story progress they became two different persons. They developed different hobbies and aspirations that no body amongst the audience expected. That made the story more catching.
Another technique mostly used in both tale telling and in radio soap operas is employment of actions, characters and actions that help audience to identify themselves with whatever happens in the story.
Another important parallel technique that is highly employed in both tale telling and radio soap opera is audience participation. In radio soap opera audience are also highly encourage to participate by using different means.
Finally, in most tale telling the ending is always a happy ending. Likewise in radio soap operas especially he non-technical ones, the ending is always happy. At the end is supposed to be a happy ending because the audience is always expected to have changed from a negative to a positive behavior.

From the above the above comparison, the author concludes that radio soap opera as a form of communication is gaining strong roots because it has a lot of similarities with tale-telling traditions."

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