Sundiata: The Role Of An African Griot

In every culture, there are those who pass along the traditions and hi composition of the culture through stories or oral traditions. In England, these were known as the wandering bards who would sing of King Arthur and his sword, Excalibur, to the present-day(prenominal) monarch and his court. In Arab society, these are the narration-tellers who sit in the streets share-out the history of Islam or a fantasy, like “Arabian Nights”; and in West Afri shag culture, these men are known as the griots, the keepers of history, and advisors to the royalty. The griots role {text:bookmark-start} has changed over time, during the days of the kings of Mali, the griot served not nevertheless as a historian, but also as a pivotal advisor. As an advisor, the griot “served in much the same dash that modern rulers are served by written constitutions, legal staff, and archival staffs”. Griots were expected to know what earlier leaders had done in certain situations and then to use that knowledge to advise the current leader on how to handle problems that arose. {text:bookmark-end} (XIV)
In the story of Sundiata: An Epic of Ancient Mali, Sundiata receives his griot from his father, the king. The griot has the duty of training the child in the laws and history of Mali so that he can become a well-informed ruler.



Sundiata’s griot is named Balla Fasséké. One cannot help but wonder how a griot is trained to remember numerous ascorbic acid’s worth of information. It can be assumed that the griot’s training involves much time dedication, but still, it is hard to cogitate memorizing several hundred years of history. There has to be something more(prenominal) that the griot does to help him in his mission. One thing mentioned in the endnotes of the Sundiata text is that griots travel a lot before being up to(p) to become masters of speech (96). Another thing they can do is repeat different aspects of a person. For example, when the griot telling the story refers to Sundiata, he often refers to...If you want to get a plentiful essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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