Melisa A. Allela (LESOStories) and Google Arts & Culture present
Join Aso in weaving new trickster fables inspired by archival treasures from across Africa.
Aso's Loom
Aso's Loom uses traditional African oral storytelling as a guiding framework for synthesizing new retellings of old stories. A dataset of traditional fables sourced from archival sources available in the public domain was employed in fine-tuning Gemini. The story weaving process entails front-facing parameters that contribute to the generative creation of a synopsis and the tale itself. Text-to-Speech and translations services enable Aso to speak out the generated story, emulating the multimodal nature of traditional African oral storytelling.
Motivation
Over a century ago, ethnographers collected slivers of African tales. These tales, remain preserved as texts in archival tombs where they rest unchanged. Yet, across time, countless tales have been passed down by word of mouth. With each passing generation, fewer voices carry the echoes of our ancestors. Some tales are lost. Others, held rigid in the grip of writing, gather dust in old archives.
Within this tapestry of whispers, threads of humans and animals intertwine. Some tales paint worlds where creatures converse and share our burdens. But the most cunning threads are spun with the tales of the tricksters. Here, Hare, Tortoise, Spider, Mantis and other tricksters weave webs of wit, each a master weaver in their own right. The Igbo might talk of Mbe the Tortoise in Nnambesi tales. The Ila stories of Sulwe the Hare, who is the embodiment of all trickery in many East African tales. And the San will hail Kaggen, Mantis. Yet, one trickster's web stretches wider than any other - Anansi the Spider
Who is Aso
Anansi's stories have journeyed far beyond his home in Ghana. They travelled across the ocean with brave people, taking root in new lands like the Caribbean and the Americas. These are cunning tales, often told from the trickster's perspective. Yet, in the long shadow cast by Anansi, Aso, his wife often stands unseen. To her, the true debt for these tales may be owed.
For these stories, though sung in the voice of the male trickster, often champion notions of heroism woven from a man's thread. Yet, at the crossroads of impossible challenges, the trickster turns to his wife. Anansi, for all his cunning, seeks counsel from Aso. And it is Aso's wit, sharp as a thorn, and knowledge, deep as the wellspring, that guides him to capture the creatures and appease the Sky-God, ultimately weaving the web that grants him the stories and wisdom he craves.
