A wide range of participants from Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE enriched the contemporary personality of Juha, a folk storyteller persona, during the Tuesday's session of the Narrator’s Cafe at the 16th Sharjah International Narrators Forum (SINF).

The forum, which ended today, was held at the Sharjah Institute for Heritage (SIH) under the slogan "Juha: A Common Human Heritage".

Speaking about the Narrator’s Cafe, Mani bu Naama, Director of Heritage Affairs at SIH, said, "The idea of the cafe is based on hosting different people with their contemporary versions of Juha, which are similar to the Arab Juha in terms of adopted anecdotes and humour, and allowing them to share stories and explore their shared influence."

"In various parts of the Arabian Gulf, several models of Juha came about over time, which influenced folklore narration within different cultures," he continued.

He also stated that the institute selected nine individuals from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), all of whom represented the originality of Juha’s personality. For bu Naama, the aim of the cafe is to document the heritage of contemporary Juha characters, maintain them, and transfer them to future generations that do not know much about the richness of Arab folklore.

"Juha’s tribe, Al Fazaary, is very famous here, and people enjoy the folkloric stories associated with it," Zekrayat Matouq, Director of Exhibitions and curator of the Juha Exhibition at SIH, added.

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