Practice · West Africa (Mande world)
Griot / Jeli
Hereditary verbal artists — historians, genealogists, musicians, and praise-singers — of West African societies.
Among Mande-speaking peoples the jeli (plural jeliw) belongs to a hereditary group of specialists in jeliya, the art of speech and music. Jeliw preserve genealogies and histories, advise patrons, mediate disputes, and perform at ceremonies, often accompanied by instruments such as the kora or balafon. 'Griot' is the French-derived term used more widely; women performers are often called griottes or jelimusow.
Jeliw are simultaneously performers and historians, which challenges the Western separation of theatre from scholarship.