Arts + Culture
The jeli: West Africa’s griots and the families that keep history in song
In the Mande world of West Africa, the jeli, or griot, is a hereditary musician, historian and praise…
griot
Music
The ngoni goes electric: Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni ba
Bassekou Kouyate, born in 1966 in Garana near Ségou, Mali, into a griot family, began playing the ngoni…
Music
A guitar tuned like an n’goni: Habib Koité and Bamada
Habib Koité, from a lineage of Khassonké griots, developed a guitar style that tunes the instrument to a…
Arts + Culture
The kora had always been played by men. Sona Jobarteh, from a Gambian griot family, changed that
Sona Jobarteh, born in London into one of The Gambia's great griot families, is widely described as the…
Arts + Culture
Seventy-one generations of griots, one kora: Toumani Diabaté, who died in 2024
Toumani Diabaté, the Malian kora master from a long line of griots, won Grammys with Ali Farka Touré…