African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African Americans 327
Sold into Spain as early as the fourteenth century, the agenaou became known as
guineos, the Spanish word for Africans. The Spanish traveled to West Africa in the
fifteenth century, ahead of their French neighbors, French captains arriving in West
Africa in the early sixteenth century, probably with mixed French-Spanish crews, may
have created the term guiriot when told by Spanish crewmen that the griots who
announced the arrival of local chiefs were simply guineos. Further historical and
linguistic research is needed to confirm this theory.
Although griot serves as a regional term across the Sahel and Savanna today, it
remains controversial not only because of the ambiguity surrounding its roots, African,
European, or both, but also for two other reasons. The first is that every society that
supports griots has its own term. Mandinka jali in The Gambia, Bamana jeli in Mali,
Wolof gewel in Senegal, Moor iggio in Mauretania, Soninké geseré in Mauritania and
Mali, Songhay jeseré in Mali and Niger, Hausa marok’i in Niger and Nigeria, and Fulani
mabo and jawando are just some of the many words that are used today. The second is
that griots and griottes have a seemingly ambiguous social status in society.
To outsiders, especially early European travelers, griots appeared as clowns and paid
flatterers. In some societies, griots were not buried in the ground but in the hollows of
trees, a tradition followed from the sixteenth up through the twentieth century. Finally,
the very distinctiveness of griots within the local social structure, reinforced by
descriptions of them offered by other members of society, gave the impression that they
were so different that one could not even marry a griot. Even today, people of griot origin
often encounter obstacles to marriage to people who are not griots.
But these negative views do not match other evidence suggesting that griots were key
members of society: a ruler always kept his griot by his side for advice, for service as a
spokesperson, and for negotiations; griots are given great rewards for their services, even
today; finally, some of the most famous of them appear on postage stamps after they die.
The explanation for this apparent paradox comes from the power of the words of
griots over other people. Griots and their patrons form a symbiotic couple. The dynamics
of that relationship are marked by words and rewards. It is clear that griots are not of low
class or captive origin. They are instead skilled artisans of the word whose talents are
normally appreciated by all members of society, but sometimes feared by those whom
they believe deserve criticism.
Although the origin of the profession remains unknown, the African societies that
support griots and the griots themselves have their own versions of how the first griot
appeared. The earliest and most widespread etiological tale about griots tells of two
brothers who go hunting, become lost, and run out of food. When one brother weakens,
the other goes off some distance, cuts a piece of flesh from his thigh, returns, cooks it,
and serves it to his sibling, thus saving his life. When the reviving brother learns how his
benefactor has managed to find food, he decides to devote the rest of his life to singing
the praises of his brother. After Islam arrives in West Africa, the origin tale becomes
linked to Muhammad. The griot becomes a man named Surakata who, for a variety of
reasons, ends up singing the praises of the Prophet.