Editing Oral tradition (section)

====West Africa====
[[File:Balafon griot (1).jpg|thumb|Balafon griot]]
{{See also|Griot|History of the Soninke people|Oral history in modern Mali|Epic of Sundiata|Kouroukan Fouga|Kwagh-Hir|Gassire's lute|Oríkì|Mbeku|Agadzagadza|Asebu Amanfi|Anansi}}
Perhaps the most famous repository of oral tradition is the west African [[griot]] (named differently in different languages).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Abdul-Fattah |first1=Hakimah |title=How Griots Tell Legendary Epics through Stories and Songs in West Africa |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/sahel-sunjata-stories-songs |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |date=20 April 2020 |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> The griot is a hereditary position and exists in [[Dyula people|Dyula]], [[Soninke people|Soninke]], [[Fula people|Fula]], [[Hausa people|Hausa]], [[Songhai people|Songhai]], [[Wolof people|Wolof]], [[Serer people|Serer]], and [[Mossi people|Mossi]] societies among many others, although more famously in [[Mandingo people|Mandinka society]]. They constitute a [[caste]] and perform a range of roles, including as a historian or library, musician, poet, [[mediation|mediator]] of family and tribal disputes, spokesperson, and served in the king's court,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Iantosca |first1=Caroline |title=Music and Storytelling in West Africa |url=https://worldview.unc.edu/news-article/music-and-storytelling-in-west-africa/#:~:text=If%20you%20were%20born%20into,of%20your%20village%20and%20family. |website=The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |publisher=UNC Chapel Hill |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> not dissimilar from the European [[bard]]. They keep records of all births, death, and marriages through the generations of the village or family. When [[Sundiata Keita]] founded the [[Mali Empire]], he was offered [[Balla Fasséké]] as his griot to advise him during his reign, giving rise to the [[Kouyate family|Kouyate line of griots]]. Griots often accompany their telling of oral tradition with a musical instrument, as the ''[[Epic of Sundiata]]'' is accompanied by the [[balafon]], or as the [[Kora (instrument)|kora]] accompanies other traditions.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Sundiata Epic: Griots, Words, Songs and Performance |url=https://www.brandeis.edu/compact/programs/global-community-engagement/2024-2025/mali-residency.html |website=Brandeis University |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> In modern times, some griots and descendants of griots have dropped their historian role and focus on music, with many finding success, however many still maintain their traditional roles.