Talk:Griot

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Anthropology: Oral tradition

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Comments

I added "External links" and "See also" headings. Also a reference to "bard" which one will see in the literature as a rough English equivalent of jeli or griot. This may be a little problematic given the very specific take on Bard in the Wikipedia article (focusing on the Celtic usage).--A12n 23:50, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure I should be commenting here, but I added information about the comparison of rappers to griots, and why griots are not looked up to as they used to be. Babzilicious (talk) 00:56, 20 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I wanted to link the Toumani Diabate link on the Griot page to his Wiki page, which does exist (see under Kora (instrument) page). But I couldn't figure out how to set the internal link.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.58.64.25 (talk • contribs) 15:39, 1 April 2007

Are griots always male? --jh 24.8.142.67 (talk) 13:22, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No, I am happy to say! One of the articles I read for editing this article is "Sex, Drugs, and Female Agency: Why Siramori Diabaté’s Song “Nanyuman” Was Such a Success in Mali and Guinea" by Jan Jansen, Graeme Counsel, and Brahima Camara. I'd like to add a section about female griots, but she is the only one I've come across so far. Babzilicious (talk) 00:53, 20 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This page needs to be cleaned up. The "Edit" links are all messed up, and the Alex Haley section is awkwardly written. I added "thought" in the phrase, "he [thought] there should be griots telling his story..." but the whole section should be rewritten by someone more familiar with the book. In response to JH's question, the article says that griots are an endogamous caste that only marry other griots. This implies that griots are of both genders, but if that is not the case this should be revised for clarity. -JC —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.94.117.158 (talk) 21:17, 26 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like someone removed this section completely? Babzilicious (talk) 19:17, 21 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

My husband is a Wolof Griot, you are born it - it is not something learnt. And it's not for males only. Also for my husbands tribe at least they are the lowest, and they do not reject marriage to carry on griot tradition rather they are rejected for being Griot. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.98.228.218 (talk) 21:01, 2 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I added information about Griots passing Muslim values on to members of the Wolof tribe. Babzilicious (talk) 17:24, 18 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Igaouen

Igaouen (as mentioned in Mariem Hassan) redirects to this article, but there is no mention of it in the text. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 00:24, 27 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Etymology

The article says "The word may derive from the French transliteration "guiriot" of the Portuguese word "criado", or masculine singular term for "servant.", and a reference is asked for. Does anybody have a reference for this, or are there any more details on it?

The reason I ask is I just came from reading an account of a Portuguese traveller who spent much time in 16th C. Senegambia, and he describes what are clearly Griots. He puzzles a lot over them, provides a lot of interesting details, esp. on their lifestyle, social taboos & military functions at the time (which is not commonly found in the secondary literature). More interesting is their name. He usually gives local names for the various offices and functions of people he comes across, but for what are unmistakeably Griots he calls them simply "Jews" (Judeus). I am not sure why he does so, and he does not clarify - I don't think he is claiming they actually are Jews, he may be referring merely to their social position in Senegambian society (akin to Jews in Europe), or he may have heard their original name in Wolof/Serer/Mandinka, that it sounded to him something like "Judeu" and he went with that. If anyone has an article or reference on the etymological source of "Griot"/"Jali", it would be much appreciated. Walrasiad (talk) 09:02, 10 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hello,

I just read an article about this:

Hale, Thomas. “From the Griot of Roots to the Roots of Griot: A New Look at the Origins of a Controversial African Term for Bard.” Oral Tradition, Dec. 1997, pp. 249–78.

I can work on that section of the article. I'm taking a "Writing for the Web" class, and we've been tasked with contributing to an article in a WikiProject. I chose this topic based on another class I took this term. I'm new to all of this, so I welcome feedback (including adding to this Talk page). Babzilicious (talk) 00:26, 15 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I added a sentence to the beginning of the second paragraph to introduce the topic of that paragraph. Babzilicious (talk) 00:26, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

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sona jobarteh

just to understand: why is sona jobarteh not mentioned here? not serious enough? HilmarHansWerner (talk) 15:13, 18 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

First griot long time ago

Gassire 105.245.4.198 (talk) 18:54, 20 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

"Griots are an ethnic group"

Not to claim knowledge of the subject, but I don't think this statement at the beginning of the Role section says what the author meant to say. Is the intended idea that griots are a culturally or ethnically specific role? Or is there some other sense in which they are a single people? Jyamine (talk) 16:09, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, thanks for pointing that out, Jyamine. I'm not an expert either, but I found a couple of other sources and added a bit more which may clarify this a bit. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 10:53, 11 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Writing for the Web

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 31 March 2025 and 14 June 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Babzilicious (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Babzilicious (talk) 01:07, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I added a section about rappers and griots.

I added a sentence to the end of the first paragraph so it will better link to the second paragraph.

I added a picture of Toumani Diabate.

I added a story about why the kora has 21 strings.

I added information to the section about griots no longer being revered. Babzilicious (talk) 01:41, 21 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I moved this sentence: "Griots also wrote stories that children enjoyed listening to. These stories were passed down to their children," to the opening section of the article. It was previously in the section about musical instruments. Babzilicious (talk) 01:45, 21 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Update: I removed this sentence. We're focusing on the oral storytelling feature of griots, so written stories don't fit in the article. Babzilicious (talk) 01:49, 21 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]