griot

West African bard

A griot is a West African storyteller, musician, and oral historian who preserves and transmits the cultural heritage of a community.

Griots traditionally serve as living repositories of genealogy, history, and folklore, passing knowledge through generations via song and narrative.

The role is often hereditary.

In broader usage, griot can describe any keeper of oral tradition: He served as the griot of his neighborhood, remembering everyone's stories.

instruments

kora

African bridge-harp with twenty-one strings

ngoniSahelian traditional lute
djembeHand-struck goblet drum
calabashGourd used as vessel

strings · percussion · accompaniment · rhythms · tuning · ensemble · improvisation · virtuosity

storytelling

narrative

Account of events

recitationOral delivery from memory
performanceCarrying out a task
epicImpressively grand in scope

tale · legend · fable · mythology · folklore · chant · oration · audience · declamation · voice

social-role

custodian

Guardian of a place

mediatorNeutral conflict resolver
advisorOne who gives guidance
diplomatOfficial foreign representative

herald · ambassador · peacemaker · genealogist · historian · educator · entertainer · intermediary · spokesperson · community

oral-history

genealogy

Study of family descent

lineageDescent from progenitors
ancestryFamily line of descent
chronicleOrdered historical record

heritage · memory · archives · generations · clan · tribe · elders · patriarch · matriarch · bloodline

West-African

Senegal

West African republic

GambiaWest African enclave state
MaliWest African country
GuineaWest African coastal nation

Fulani · Songhai · Sahel · village · compound · courtyard · ceremony · naming · wedding · festival

Categories

AfricaEgypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania
storytellingstorytelling, story, tale, narrative, narrator
cultural creatorsartist, musician, dancer, singer, writer
oral traditionfolk narratives, campfire tales, epics, oral poetry, storytelling circles
storytellersstorytellers, narrator, narrators, tale-teller, tale spinner
tradicion oralromances, parabola, saga, bardo, nana

Opposites

oral vs. written tradition

griotchronicler

Writer of historical accounts

archivist · scribe · documentarian · biographer · annalist

cultural insider vs. outsider documentation

griotanthropologist

Human culture researcher

ethnographer · foreign correspondent · folklorist · orientalist

memory keeper vs. forgetter/eraser

One who suppresses content

revisionist · suppressor · amnesiac · iconoclast · colonial administrator

Family

Familiarity: Top 1,000,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Rated G