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Thomas A. Hale. Griots and griottes. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007.
Thomas A. Hale's clearly written, informative work is a comprehensive historical and contemporary account of the griot phenomenon, which originated in West Africa. In a scholarly way, it integrates the methods of oral and written history, comparative literature, folkloristics, and performance studies to create a fascinating portrait of griots. These oral historians, musicians, and poets have such complex roles that it is difficult to confine oneself to a succinct, concise definition of these specialists.
Hale's first chapter, "A Job Description for Griots" (pp. 18-58), explains how much more there is to griot practice than simply genealogy and music. Griots in Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger, Senegal and The Gambia variously serve as genealogist, historian, royal advisor and spokesperson, diplomat, mediator, interpreter and translator, musician and composer, teacher, exhorter, warrior, witness, praise singer and key participant at the important village ceremonies such as namings, marriages, installations, and funerals.
In chapter two, entitled "The Origins of Griots" (pp. 59-113), the author sets out to trace and explain some of their thirteenth-century roots in the Malian empire and its founder, Sundiata Keita. The basic tale of griot origins involves blood sacrifice and is used to explain taboos associated with griots and why their caste is distinct from that of other West African villagers. As Islam came to the region and griot social status became memorialized in epic narratives, their unique social situation was witnessed and reported by outsiders, first Arab and later European.
In chapters three, "The Verbal Art of Griots" (pp. 114-45), and four, "Music Across the Griot World" (pp. 146-71), the author proceeds to explain griots, their culture and how it is they practice their verbal art through praise-singing for example, and to discuss the instruments and techniques used to support these narratives in a highly accessible and informative manner.
Chapter five, "The Making of a Griot" (pp. 172-92), and chapter six, "Would You Want Your Daughter to Marry One"...