The oral tradition
Recorded by Walter Nkwi Gam
The Griots were professional storytellers and keepers of West African history, who felt the ‘writing revolution’ threatened the memory and preservation of the past. Their job was to remember the history of their peoples, using memory strategies and musical aids to help recite long stories.
Despite the adoption of writing in the Malian Empire, the Griots remained as the King’s ‘official keepers’ of history. The Epic of Sundiata is a key example of the oral tradition and the continued importance of this technique.
[…]“We are now coming to the great moments in the life of Sundiata. The exile will end and another sun will arise. It is the sun of Sundiata. Griots know the history of kings and kingdoms and that is why they are the best counsellors of kings. Every king wants to have a singer to perpetuate his memory, for it is the griot who rescues the memories of kings from oblivion, as men have short memories. Kings have prescribed destinies just like men, and seers who probe the future know it. They have knowledge of the future, whereas we griots are depositories of the knowledge of the past. But whoever knows the history of a country can read its future.
Other peoples use writing to record the past, but this invention’ has killed the faculty of memory among them. They do not feel the past any more, for writing lacks the warmth of the human voice. With them everybody thinks he knows, whereas learning should be a secret. The prophets did not write and their words have been all the more vivid as a result. […]