This book is primarily the work of an obscure griot from the village of Djeliba Koro in the circumscription of Siguiri in Guinea. I owe everything to him. My acquaintance with Mandingo country has allowed me greatly to appreciate the knowledge and talent of Mandingo griots in matters of history.
However, from now on an ambiguity must be cleared up. Nowadays when we speak of ‘griots’ we think of that class of professional musicians fashioned to live on the backs of others. When we say ‘griot’ we think of those numerous guitarists who people our towns and go to sell their ‘music’ in the recording studios of Dakar or Abidjan.
If today the griot is reduced to turning his musical art to account or even to working with his hands in order to live, it was not always so in ancient Africa. Formerly ‘griots’ were the counsellors of kings, they conserved the constitutions of kingdoms by memory work alone; each princely family had its griot appointed to preserve tradition; it was from among the griots that kings used to choose the tutors for young princes. In the very hierarchical society of Africa before colonization, where everyone found his place, the griot appears as one of the most important of this society, because it is he who, for want of archives, records the customs, traditions and governmental principles of kings. The social upheavals due to the conquest oblige the griots to live otherwise today; thus they turn to account what had been, until then, their fief, viz. the art of eloquence and music.
Nonetheless, one can still find the griot almost in his ancient setting, far from the town, in the old villages of Mali like Ka-ba (Kangaba), Djeliba Koro, Krina, etc., which can boast of still preserving the customs of the times of their ancestors. Generally, in every village of old Mali there is a griot family which conserves historical tradition and teaches it; more usually we find one village of traditionists to each province, thus: Fadama for Hamana province (Kouroussa, Guinea); Djééla (Droma, Siguiri); Keyla (Republic of Mali), etc.
Unfortunately the West has taught us to scorn oral sources in matters of history, all that is not written in black and white being considered without foundation. Thus, even among African intellectuals, there are those who are sufficiently narrow-minded to regard ‘speaking documents’, which the griots are, with disdain, and to believe that we know nothing of our past for want of written documents. These men simply prove that they do not know their country except through the eyes of Whites.
The words of traditionist griots deserve anything but scorn. The griot who occupies the chair of history of a village and who bears the title of ‘Belen-Tigui’ is a very respectable gentleman and has toured Mali. He has gone from village to village to hear the teaching of great masters; he has learnt the art of historical oratory through long years; he is, moreover, bound by an oath and does not teach anything except what his guild stipulates, for, say the griots, ‘All true learning should be a secret.’ Also the traditionist is a master in the art of circumlocution, he speaks in archaic formulas, or else he turns facts into amusing legends for the public, which legends have, however, a secret sense which the vulgar little suspect.
My eyes have only just opened on these mysteries of eternal Africa and more than once, in my thirst to know, I have had to give up my little claim as an armchair intellectual before the silences of tradition just as my over-impertinent questions were about to uncover a mystery.
This book is, then, the fruit of an initial contact with the most authentic traditionists of Mali. I am nothing more than a translator, I owe everything to the masters of Fadama, Djeliba Koro and Keyla and more particularly to Djeli Mamoudou Kouyaté of the village of Djeliba Koro (Siguiri) in Guinea.
May this book open the eyes of more than one African and induce him to come and sit humbly beside the ancients and hear the words of the griots who teach wisdom and history.
D. T. Niane