Azis Franklin’s World of Fairytales

For Azis Suprianto, fairytales are his breath of life. Popularly known as Azis Franklin, the storyteller said that storytelling could be much more than just for entertaining kids at bedtime.

KOMPAS/DEFRI WERDIONO

Aziz Suprianto

For Azis Suprianto, 52, fairytales are his breath of life. Popularly known as Azis Franklin, the storyteller said that storytelling could be much more than just for entertaining kids at bedtime. It can also be used to spread positive messages and noble values to its listeners.

Between three and 10 times a month, Azis accepts storytelling invitations from anyone, anywhere, outside of his routine storytelling shows at a local radio and TV stations in Malang, East Java.

He said that he had lost count of the stories he knew. He categorized them into fables and stories of people. He usually uses fables for toddlers and tales of people for elementary school students.

He often mixes various themes in his stories to prevent them from becoming the run-of-the-mill, boring tales that grandparents used to tell. He also often modifies the tales, such as by turning certain scheming characters into knights. All of this is done while still maintaining the tales’ emotional beats. The goal is that his listeners will look at the characters in his tales as examples.

Azis is also accustomed to using anything he can find as a storytelling medium. Sometimes he even uses dried grass as makeshift puppets to represent the characters in his stories.

Of all the trinkets that he employs in his stories, there is one constant item at his disposal: a green turtle plush toy that he named Franklin. He got the plush toy from his contract with a publisher in 2003-2004. The publisher asked Azis to tell stories based on Canadian children’s book franchise Franklin the Turtle.

Azis asked the publisher to provide him with the plush toy, which he then brought in his travels around East Java. Later on, the name Franklin became attached to his name, hence his “stage name” of Azis Franklin.

“There is a deep philosophy behind Franklin’s name and figure. He is a small turtle. Turtle hatchlings are left behind by their parents after they hatch. They are given a shell but they have to swim through oceans on their own. This shows children that they have to work hard to achieve their dreams, despite being children,” Azis said, adding that his grandmother used to tell him stories when he was small.

The name Franklin is an acronym of “friends and clean”. “This teaches children to have many friends and to have a clean heart,” Azis said.

Azis also often uses magic tricks, music and paintings to accompany his storytelling and make it more interesting. This is because a majority of his audience are children.

Azis also examines his audience’s psychology. Most of them can listen to stories five to 10 minutes long before getting bored. Consequently, Azis often compresses his stories accordingly. “For kindergarten kids, my stories are usually five minutes long. For elementary school students, it is usually 7 to 10 minutes long,” he said.

For free

Nowadays, amid his busy schedule, Azis spares time to tell stories for free, usually at orphanages, shelters for street children, village festivals and in alleyways in villages where many children live.

The member of the Jakarta Traveling Theater troupe said that he began his storytelling career in 1991, after meeting with an old friend from school. Azis participated in an inter-school storytelling competition in 1984-1985, when he was in second grade at a Teachers’ Training College in Blitar, East Java. He won second place in the competition.

His performance in the competition apparently left a lasting impression on his friends, many of whom still remembered the story and moral message that Azis told. “That was the moment I thought about the huge impact storytelling can have. At first, I tried to retell the stories my grandma used to tell me. I still remember everything, including the moral messages at the end. I then thought that this must be developed. Stories are good to teach children without making them feel like they are being lectured,” Azis said.

Azis then offered his storytelling services to local schools. He did this in his spare time throughout his studies in Malang and Blitar. At first, the schools did not allow him and laughed at his offer. Eventually, Azis pleaded with a local school over giving him a chance to tell a story in front of students during school hours without pay.

The school agreed. Some of the teachers joined in and listened to Azis’ story. Later, Azis was invited back to the schools several times to tell stories, especially for new student orientation.

Azis’ storytelling career then blossomed. Since residing in Malang, he has filled several programs in local TV stations that mix storytelling, magic shows and painting shows. He is also often invited to tell stories at the Malang City library.

A master of several string instruments, including Dayak’s sape, Azis said that he hoped storytelling would be used as a form of teaching in schools. He said he was glad about storytelling’s increasing popularity these days. Due to the changing times, people nowadays no longer have difficulties in finding storytelling material, be it from books or smartphone applications. Azis said that this was not a competition for him. If more people love telling stories to their children, he will be happy.

Azis said that he pledged to keep on telling stories while he still could. For him, storytelling is in his blood. He can express his fondness of other arts, such as theater, in his storytelling activities. Due to his educational background at the Teachers’ Training College, he is often involved in traditional arts performances, such as wayang orang, ketoprak and ludruk.

Azis’ pledge in preserving the storytelling art is seen through one of his two children’s interest in literature. “My daughter has been writing stories, mostly short stories, for the past year,” said Azis, who plans to write a book on the stories that he comes up with.