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Who Was the Greatest Griot?
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Who Was the Greatest Griot?
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Who was the greatest griot who ever lived? Jeliba names Balla Fasséké Kouyaté, griot to Sundiata Keita and the one from whom the office descends — and honors Toumani Diabaté, who carried seventy-one remembered generations of kora players. Then he declines the question itself. The office of the jeli is not won; it is inherited, and Salif Keita's controversy proves it. Among the jeliw, greatness is measured not in performance but in memory: the one whose recitation of the lines can be trusted. Nia presses him on what that means for those who trace back four generations and find a wall — and Jeliba answers that the griot who remembers seventy-one and the descendant who has fought back to six are doing the same work.
Begin at the threshold: keeperoftheline.com