Jalikebba
For your entertainment!
The Jali, in French called Griot, are a member of the professional musicians caste of the Mandinka society, a large group of people in West Africa. Many Westafrican societies know this "singer" profession (Arabic: Qawwal, Wolof: Gewel, Fula: Gawlo, Moorish: Iggiw), that may be compared with the Troubadours in European middle age.His profession has ever been a hereditary monopole of the great family clans Kuyateh, Diabate (Jobateh), Konte (Kanute), Cissokho (Suso) and others. Since centuries they have been court musicians, advisors and diplomats in the service of wealthy personalities, political and religious leaders.
His art is the Jaliya ("what the Jali does") - instrumental as musician and vocal as praise singer, historian, genealoge, story teller, entertainer and more generally als carrier of the oral tradition. The men sing and play the instruments Kora, Balafon and Konting, the women are singers and play the Newo, a metal percussion instrument. Jaliya is a very complex connection of musical and verbal artforms, embedded in the social context of the Mandinka cultures.
At social (marriage, bapteme) and religious, also private occasions they are invited to praise the patrons with musical virtuosity and mastery of the words and to remind the glorious and heroic past of ther families. They should not be missing at any important event and they are also sought after as advisors and mediators.
The education of the musicians starts already at an age of 5 years, they are taught by father, uncle, elder brother or by another Jali family. When they are grown up they are mastering the instrumental techniques and the complicated repertoire of songs and instrumental accompaniments, praise names of all the family clans, historical facts, myths and proverbs of the Jaliya, much of that is improvised during the performance. The classical repertoire is very rich, some of the songs date back to the time of Soundiata, the great mythical king of the Mali empire in the 13th century.