Griots

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of traditional storytellers and musicians in West Africa who preserve history through oral narratives and songs
2. Individuals in West African cultures known for their role in sharing folklore and history through performances and oral tradition
3. Cultural figures in African communities who serve as historians, poets, and musicians, linking generations through storytelling and music

Etymology: "Griot" is the English form of a term used across West Africa, and the French word it came into English through is itself a borrowing whose origin scholars have not settled. The French "griot" was recorded in the colonial era, when European travellers and administrators in Senegal, Gambia and Mali began writing about the hereditary performers they encountered. Its ultimate source is uncertain: some scholars connect it to Portuguese "criado," meaning servant or person raised in a household, while others point to local languages such as Mandinka or Wolof. Because the evidence is contested, the precise pathway remains unresolved. The plural "griots" is the ordinary English plural of the noun, and it refers to a hereditary caste of performers whose roles were passed down within families. Each griot was trained to memorise genealogies, royal histories and praise songs, and performed them accompanied by instruments such as the kora, a harp-lute, or the balafon, a xylophone. Their knowledge was oral rather than written, which is why they functioned as living archives for communities whose histories were not recorded on paper.

Synonyms: storytellers, narrators