TRAVELLING to Morocco to help break the world storytelling record sounds like a tall tale spun by Scottish storyteller Dougie Mackay.
This is not fiction, however. Along with three other Scottish storytellers, he really did make his way to Marrakech to take part in the longest continuous storytelling session in the world – an awesome 80 hours and 34 minutes.
The new Guinness World Record featured 100 storytellers from 33 countries who shared tall and small tales from a vast range of diverse cultures, reflecting the Marrakesh International Storytelling Festival’s 2025 theme, Bahja (Joy).
Each played a significant role in the record-breaking event, contributing stories rooted in the rich oral heritage of their countries and beyond and underscoring the festival’s mission of uniting global storytelling communities while celebrating cultural diversity.
“What was most striking for me was the opportunity to tell stories in an Arabic country and see and hear the richness of the culture as well as experience the hospitality and I think that is maybe a story we don’t often hear back in Scotland,” said Mackay, who hosts the Tales For Our Times podcast.
“Everything was really beautiful –the tile work, the clothing, tapestry and architecture and it was interesting to hear some of the tales from the Moroccan tellers because they were similar stories to Europe’s but with a different flavour and lots of music and dancing.”
He added: “It was good to meet storytellers from all over the world and good to be somewhere that has an old storytelling heritage, similar to Scotland’s.”
The storytellers also completed more than 200 workshops in schools to over five thousand children.
“I’ve been to other festivals but this one was quite different because of the sheer scale,” said Mackay. “Also the culture is different – I don’t speak the language, it’s easy to get lost, you don’t know the price of anything and everything involves bartering. There are horses and carts in the street going one way and motorbikes going the other, so it is quite chaotic but fun.”
Storytelling has been part of Arabic culture for a long time and in Marrakech it was traditional for storytellers to tell their tales in the iconic Jemaa El-Fnaa Square.
However the art began to languish as the storytellers could not compete when musicians and entertainers like snake charmers began to use amplified music in the square.
In order to counteract this, the festival, which is supported by the King Mohammed VI of Morocco, was set up and has grown from strength to strength. A dedicated storytelling café was also created and became a place where the older storytellers would go and a younger crowd would come in and listen.
As a result, Mackay said, there is a new wave of younger, dynamic storytellers which probably outnumber the young storytellers in Scotland.
“There has been a resurgence and a lot more young storytellers in Morocco are getting interested,” said Mackay. “Breaking this record was part of reclaiming the square, or at least part of it for storytelling. We were able to set up a marquee tent and use microphones to compete with the rest of the sounds of the square.”
The stories were told mostly in Arabic, French, English and Spanish and for it to qualify as a world record there had to be an audience of at least ten people which wasn’t always easy over the four days of the event.
“It was quite an organisational feat,” said Mackay, who told stories for over two hours as part of the marathon.
“We would get messages pinging on What’s App at 6am saying an audience was needed or we would get one in the middle of the night asking if someone could get to the tent quickly as a storyteller hadn’t turned up in time.”
Mostly, the marquee was well attended, with people drifting in from the square and sometimes sitting for hours to listen.
“Even people who did not speak English would listen to English-speaking storytellers because when an event like this is out in a public space, you get a really good uptake,” said Mackay.
He included a couple of old Scottish myths into his sessions as well as Whuppity Stoorie, the Scots version of Rumpelstiltskin. Also popular with the Moroccan audiences were tales with a puzzle or a riddle with a philosophical ending.
The other Scottish storytellers who travelled to the festival were Donald Nelson, Rona Barbour and Michael Kerins.
Festival organisers said they were delighted the record had been broken and thanked all the storytellers who had taken part.
“Breaking a such a world record in Jamaa EL Fna square is a statement for the importance of oral tradition and storytelling in Morocco and around the globe,” said Zouhair Khaznaoui, president of the Storytellers’ Union.
Mackay will be storytelling at the Better Craic Club in Glasgow, with the other two Scottish-based storytellers on February 21 and also hosts the bi-monthly Hearth Fire Sessions in Edinburgh, at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
