Eri
2010-02-09, 01:20
A griot (English pronunciation: /ˈɡri.oʊ/, French pronunciation: [ɡʁi.o], with a silent t) or jeli (djeli or djéli in French spelling) is a West African poet, praise singer, and wandering musician, considered a repository of oral tradition. As such, they are sometimes also called bards. According to Paul Oliver in his book Savannah Syncopators, "Though [the griot] has to know many traditional songs without error, he must also have the ability to extemporize on current events, chance incidents and the passing scene. His wit can be devastating and his knowledge of local history formidable." Although they are popularly known as 'praise singers', griots may also use their vocal expertise for gossip, satire, or political comment.
Griots today live in many parts of West Africa, including Mali, the Gambia, Guinea, Western Sahara and Senegal, and are present among the Mande peoples (Mandinka, Malinké, Bambara, etc.), Fulɓe (Fula), Hausa, Songhai, Tukulóor, Wolof, Serer, Mossi, Dagomba, Mauritanian Arabs and many other smaller groups. The word may derive from the French transliteration "guiriot" of the Portuguese word "criado," which in turn means "servant."
In African languages, griots are referred to by a number of names: jeli in northern Mande areas, jali in southern Mande areas, guewel in Wolof, gawlo in Pulaar (Fula), and igiiw (or igawen) in Hassaniyya Arabic. Griots form an endogamous caste, meaning that most of them only marry fellow griots and that those who are not griots do not normally perform the same functions that they perform.
The Mali Empire (Malinke Empire), at its height in the middle of the 14th century, extended from Africa (today's Chad and Niger) to West Africa (today's Mali and Senegal). The Empire was founded by Sundjata Keita, whose exploits remain celebrated in Mali even today. In the Epic of Sundjata, King Naré Maghann Konaté offered his son Sundiata a griot, Balla Fasséké, to advise him in his reign. Balla Fasséké is thus considered the first griot and the founder of the Kouyaté line of griots that exists to this day.
Each family of griots accompanied a family of warrior-kings, which they called jatigi. In traditional culture, no griot can be without jatigi, and no jatigi can be without a griot; the two are inseparable, and worthless without the other. However, the jatigi can accept a "loan" of his griot to another jatigi.
Most villages also had their own griot, who told tales of births, deaths, marriages, battles, hunts, affairs, and hundreds of other things.
http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Griot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griot)
http://www.shlomomusic.com/images/Xalamkat,%20Dakar,%20c.1910.jpg
http://www.pvv.org/~erikad/Themepages/Travel/Mali/griot.jpg
http://fred.nomades.info/img/aft08.jpg
http://www.kalamu.com/bol/wp-content/content/images/oumou%20sangare%2018.jpg
My favorite griot musical instrument, the kora:
http://www.wosound.com/images/Kora.jpg
A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge like a lute or guitar. The sound of a kora resembles that of a harp, though when played in the traditional style, it bears a closer resemblance to flamenco and delta blues guitar techniques. The player uses only the thumb and index finger of both hands to pluck the strings in polyrhythmic patterns (using the remaining fingers to secure the instrument by holding the hand posts on either side of the strings). Ostinato riffs ("Kumbengo") and improvised solo runs ("Birimintingo") are played at the same time by skilled players.
Kora players have traditionally come from griot families (also from the Mandinka tribes) who are traditional historians, genealogists and storytellers who pass their skills on to their descendants. The instrument is played in Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso and The Gambia. A traditional kora player is called a Jali, similar to a 'bard' or oral historian. Most West African musicians prefer the term 'jali' to 'griot', which is the French word.
Traditional koras feature 21 strings, eleven played by the left hand and ten by the right. Modern koras made in the Casamance region of southern Senegal sometimes feature additional bass strings, adding up to four strings to the traditional 21. Strings were traditionally made from thin strips of hide, for example antelope skin - now most strings are made from harp strings or nylon fishing line, sometimes plaited together to create thicker strings.
By moving leather tuning rings up and down the neck, a kora player can retune the instrument into one of four seven-note scales. These scales are close in tuning to western Major, Minor and Lydian modes.[1] and .[2]
Increasingly koras are made with guitar machine heads instead of the traditional leather rings. The advantage is that they are much easier to tune. The disadvantage is that it limits the pitch of the instrument as the string lengths are more fixed and lighter strings are needed to lift it much more than a tone. Learning to tune a kora is arguably as difficult as learning to play it and many people entranced by the sound while in Africa, buy a kora and then find themselves unable to keep it in tune once they are home, relegating it to the status of ornament. Koras can be converted to replace the leather rings with machine heads. Wooden pegs and harp pegs are also used but both can still cause tuning problems in damper climates unless made withttp://www.forumbiodiversity.com/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=37h great skill.
Some kora players such as Seckou Keita have double necked koras, allowing them to switch from one tuning to another within seconds, and giving them increased flexibility. The kora is mentioned in the Senegalese national anthem "Pincez Tous vos Koras, Frappez les Balafons."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kora_%28instrument%29
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rMyQNV53d8c/R2PbI5hcqlI/AAAAAAAAAO0/hcq7OvWu-Vk/s400/kora1.jpg
Toumani Diabate plays the Kora:
8luhdxS2KuM
IMO, the most beautiful musical instrument in the world.
Griots today live in many parts of West Africa, including Mali, the Gambia, Guinea, Western Sahara and Senegal, and are present among the Mande peoples (Mandinka, Malinké, Bambara, etc.), Fulɓe (Fula), Hausa, Songhai, Tukulóor, Wolof, Serer, Mossi, Dagomba, Mauritanian Arabs and many other smaller groups. The word may derive from the French transliteration "guiriot" of the Portuguese word "criado," which in turn means "servant."
In African languages, griots are referred to by a number of names: jeli in northern Mande areas, jali in southern Mande areas, guewel in Wolof, gawlo in Pulaar (Fula), and igiiw (or igawen) in Hassaniyya Arabic. Griots form an endogamous caste, meaning that most of them only marry fellow griots and that those who are not griots do not normally perform the same functions that they perform.
The Mali Empire (Malinke Empire), at its height in the middle of the 14th century, extended from Africa (today's Chad and Niger) to West Africa (today's Mali and Senegal). The Empire was founded by Sundjata Keita, whose exploits remain celebrated in Mali even today. In the Epic of Sundjata, King Naré Maghann Konaté offered his son Sundiata a griot, Balla Fasséké, to advise him in his reign. Balla Fasséké is thus considered the first griot and the founder of the Kouyaté line of griots that exists to this day.
Each family of griots accompanied a family of warrior-kings, which they called jatigi. In traditional culture, no griot can be without jatigi, and no jatigi can be without a griot; the two are inseparable, and worthless without the other. However, the jatigi can accept a "loan" of his griot to another jatigi.
Most villages also had their own griot, who told tales of births, deaths, marriages, battles, hunts, affairs, and hundreds of other things.
http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Griot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griot)
http://www.shlomomusic.com/images/Xalamkat,%20Dakar,%20c.1910.jpg
http://www.pvv.org/~erikad/Themepages/Travel/Mali/griot.jpg
http://fred.nomades.info/img/aft08.jpg
http://www.kalamu.com/bol/wp-content/content/images/oumou%20sangare%2018.jpg
My favorite griot musical instrument, the kora:
http://www.wosound.com/images/Kora.jpg
A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge like a lute or guitar. The sound of a kora resembles that of a harp, though when played in the traditional style, it bears a closer resemblance to flamenco and delta blues guitar techniques. The player uses only the thumb and index finger of both hands to pluck the strings in polyrhythmic patterns (using the remaining fingers to secure the instrument by holding the hand posts on either side of the strings). Ostinato riffs ("Kumbengo") and improvised solo runs ("Birimintingo") are played at the same time by skilled players.
Kora players have traditionally come from griot families (also from the Mandinka tribes) who are traditional historians, genealogists and storytellers who pass their skills on to their descendants. The instrument is played in Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso and The Gambia. A traditional kora player is called a Jali, similar to a 'bard' or oral historian. Most West African musicians prefer the term 'jali' to 'griot', which is the French word.
Traditional koras feature 21 strings, eleven played by the left hand and ten by the right. Modern koras made in the Casamance region of southern Senegal sometimes feature additional bass strings, adding up to four strings to the traditional 21. Strings were traditionally made from thin strips of hide, for example antelope skin - now most strings are made from harp strings or nylon fishing line, sometimes plaited together to create thicker strings.
By moving leather tuning rings up and down the neck, a kora player can retune the instrument into one of four seven-note scales. These scales are close in tuning to western Major, Minor and Lydian modes.[1] and .[2]
Increasingly koras are made with guitar machine heads instead of the traditional leather rings. The advantage is that they are much easier to tune. The disadvantage is that it limits the pitch of the instrument as the string lengths are more fixed and lighter strings are needed to lift it much more than a tone. Learning to tune a kora is arguably as difficult as learning to play it and many people entranced by the sound while in Africa, buy a kora and then find themselves unable to keep it in tune once they are home, relegating it to the status of ornament. Koras can be converted to replace the leather rings with machine heads. Wooden pegs and harp pegs are also used but both can still cause tuning problems in damper climates unless made withttp://www.forumbiodiversity.com/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=37h great skill.
Some kora players such as Seckou Keita have double necked koras, allowing them to switch from one tuning to another within seconds, and giving them increased flexibility. The kora is mentioned in the Senegalese national anthem "Pincez Tous vos Koras, Frappez les Balafons."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kora_%28instrument%29
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rMyQNV53d8c/R2PbI5hcqlI/AAAAAAAAAO0/hcq7OvWu-Vk/s400/kora1.jpg
Toumani Diabate plays the Kora:
8luhdxS2KuM
IMO, the most beautiful musical instrument in the world.