Mali:
Africa's Empire of Empires
If the memory of ancient Mali still burns brightly
today, that's largely thanks to the work of griots, professional historians, praise-singers and musical
entertainers among the Manding people. Today, the Manding are spread
throughout at least six West African countries: Mali, Guinea, Gambia, Senegal,
Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Guinea Bissau. The Manding have never again
known the political unity they enjoyed before 1468. But they have maintained a
remarkably unified culture. They still rely on their griots to remind them of
their glorious place in history. And the most cherished of all the griot
histories is the story of Sundiata Keita, the first king of the Malian Empire.
From:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/aoi/html/empire.html
[accessed July 1997]
Griot
Traditions
Sundjata
Keita
is the cultural hero and ancestor of
the Mande (AKA: Mandinka or Manding or Malinke) peoples,
founder of the great Mali
Empire, inspiration of the great oral
epic tradition of griots
or professional bards--like
Djeliba
in the film
Keita: The Heritage of the Griot--keepers
of tradition and history, once trusted and powerful advisors of kings and
clans.
These
oral artists are specialists of the spoken/sung word and the power—called
nyama—that
it releases.
They may belong to special castes (nyamakalaw
- or handlers of nyama) or inherit their calling through generations of
the same family, for example, in Mande West African cultures.
"The Mande see nyama as a hot, wild energy that
is the animating force of nature.
Nyama is present in all the rocks, trees, people and animals that inhabit the
Earth.
It is similar to the Western notion of the soul but is more complete than
that.
It controls nature, the stars and the motions of the sea.
Nyama is truly the sculptor of the universe. While nyama molds nature into its
many forms,
the nyamakalaw can shape nyama into art. |
The nyamakalaw spend their entire lives perfecting special secret skills
that are passed down from generation to generation.
The nyamakalaw are the only people in Mande that can use magic
and are often skilled as sorcerers, blacksmiths, leather workers or
bards."
--From The World
of the Mande: History, Art and Ritual in the Mande Culture,
and Caste Systems in Mande Society, Anthropology/Africana Studies
269 and
Anthropology/Africana Studies 267, Prof. Mandy Bastian
(Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA) 1997-1999
From African Timelines Part II: African
Empires, 1st
– 15th centuries
http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/timelines/htimeline2.htm
What is a Griot?
(pronounced GREE-oh)
Griots are historians, praise-singers and musical
entertainers. And yet, none of these descriptions quite captures their unique
status in Manding [Mande] society. In the
time of Sundiata, griots tutored princes and gave council to kings. They were
educated and wise, and they used their detailed knowledge of history to shed
light on present-day dilemmas. A Griot is also an African historian. He is a
revered clan member who would memorize all of a village's significant events, like
births, death, marriages, hunts, seasons and wars, ensuring that the
collective heritage, culture and lineage of the clan continued. A Griot would
speak for hours, even days, drawing upon a practiced and memorized history,
that had been passed on from Griot to Griot for generations.
Long after the fall of the Malian Empire in 1468, a Manding family of
means would have their own griot to advise, arrange the terms of marriages and
mediate disputes, always relying on their understanding of each family's
history.
Somewhere along the line, griots, or jelis as they
are known among the Manding, also became the official musicians of the
society. The balafon, which figures
prominently in the Sundiata story, is a wooden xylophone and probably the
original jeli instrument. But now, jelis also play the ngoni, a small traditional lute, and the kora, a 21-string cross between a harp and a lute. Jelis also sing
in loud, proud voices full of the grandeur of their history. There are male
griot singers, but many of these beloved and respected vocalists are also
women.
The griot's ancient art, jeliya, is still practiced today, though some say it has declined
under the pressures of modern, commercial society [a central theme of Keita:
The Heritage of the Griot]. These days, Manding families generally
cannot afford their own private griot, so the musicians move from family to
family, performing at weddings and baptisms, entertaining and praising the
guests. Critics claim that this
way of working forces griots to know a little bit of everybody's history, but
prevents them from knowing all the rich detail that their ancestors had to
master.
Perhaps jeliya has changed, but it remains enormously
popular. Some of the most celebrated pop music stars of Mali, Guinea, Senegal
and the Gambia are griots, who have transformed traditional compositions to
create modern, electric music. In Mali, female griot singing stars include Ami
Koita, Kandia Kouyaté, and Tata Bambo Kouyaté, all of whom have released
many volumes of cassettes on the local market.
Guinea's Mory Kanté has built an international career on his driving,
Paris-produced dance tracks, but the music remains firmly rooted in his griot
past. Perhaps West Africa's most celebrated pop star around the world, Salif
Keita of Mali, does not have griot ancestry. Indeed, as the name Keita
indicates, he is a noble descendent of Sundiata Keita, the first king of the
Malian Empire. But Salif nevertheless draws heavily from griot tradition in
his music.
Courtesy
of Banning Eyre/World Music Productions
From: http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/aoi/html/griot.html
[accessed July 1997]
West African Cultures
& Griots' Musical Instruments
From THE CORA CONNECTION:
"Your link to the rich Music Traditions of
West Africa" (David
Gilden & Banning Eyre, 1999):
West Africa: The Land and Its Peoples
http://www.coraconnection.com/pages/geo.html
"The Mandinka are especially
famous for their jalis or griots, traditional historians,
praise singers and master musicians. Among the instruments they play to
accompany their epics and songs is the 21-string kora."
This webpage offers a map and links to profiles of West African countries
where the Kora is played: Gambia, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal.
What is a Balaphone?
http://www.coraconnection.com/pages/balaphone.html
"The kora, the ngoni and the
balaphone are the three indispensable melody instruments of the
Manding [Mande] griot. All three instruments are found
throughout the Mande world, but each has its region of dominance. The kora
rules in Gambia, . . . In Mali, the ngoni is king, . . . [and Guinea]
is the province of the balaphone."
Akin to the xylophone, the West African balaphone is both a percussive
and melodic instrument. It belongs to the family of musical instruments
called "ideophones," sharing a "set of tone bars laid across a
frame and struck with mallets."
What is a Kora? ["Cora"
is an alternative French spelling of "Kora"]
http://www.coraconnection.com/pages/WhatisKora.html
This webpage offers a
diagram of the Mandinka kora, which looks and
sounds something like a harp, "but its intricate
playing style can be closer to flamenco guitar." The kora is made of
"a calabash gourd cut in half and partially covered with cow skin";
and it traditionally has 21 playing strings, typically "fishing line which
provides a brilliant tone and is easily obtained at the local
market." Internal links take you to information about "Tuning
the Kora" and the opportunity to "Hear the Kora."
"The Ngoni, a plucked lute from West Africa"
http://www.coraconnection.com/pages/ngoni.html
"Ngoni is the Bambara
[or Bamana] name for an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa. .
. . The version played by the Manding griots of The Gambia, Mali and
Guinea is typically about two-feet long and has either four or seven
strings."
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