Griot

sings. When it sings, the king dies, Gassire’s anger goes away, and the Wagadu Empire falls. Besides the dark plotline of the epic, I found that figuratively, it emphasized the power of music. In Western Africa, griots use lutes to tell stories or sing stories and myths. Traditionally, griots were not allowed to write epics down, they were trained to memorize songs by memory so they could repeat it to their culture. When Arab traders came to Western Africa, the epics started to be written down. After

Dominiquie Gray English- 102 Argumentative Essay 6 December 2015 The Hip Hop Generation and its Impact on Society. Throughout history, Hip Hop has manifest into more than a simple form of life, but as a powerful cultural movement. Hip Hop plays a major part in African American culture, dialogue, fashion, and self expression. Today, Hip Hop has a joined people of many nationalities, races, and ethnicities as a society. The Hip Hop Generation has begun to redefine African American cultural norms

The epic of Sundiata is a concise piece that tells a story while including only the most important details. This is something that is not seen a lot anymore as stories contain extreme amounts of detail that take away from the message, while newspapers spew large amounts of information that forgets very important details. Since the literature students experience falls mainly under the two categories stated above, D. T. Niane’s style is different and may seem to be hard to digest because it is different

Andrea C. Mathis Dr. T. P. Mahadevan Introduction to Humanities I 21 October 2014 Revised: 1 December 2014 Make Believe Creatures Historically Africa has been partly constructed by journals, books, etc. written by white hand. It is believed by many that one cannot truly talk about the land, unless they have lived the land. Two particular novels and oral epics that depict this perspective, the perspective of the colonized, are Things Fall Apart, written by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, and Sundiata

technologies in different cultures. Origins and Potentially Flawed History. The primary and most significant trait that both epics have in common is the origins. Before the stories were written down, they were told orally and passed down as oral histories. Griots serve as the primary form of verbal translation and histories; playing major roles in passing down the Sundiata Epic (Miller 342). The Epic of Gilgamesh is later written down on sun-dried clay tablets in cuneiform. Miller describes cuneiform as “a

Another value that represents society in both epics is generosity. Even though these heros were feared or reveared by their followers, they were very generous. “Here’s a boat filled to the top, overflowing with fine gold and silver. Have a thousand masses said in Santa María de Burgos.” The Cid is very generous to the cathedral because he promised them that he would return with these riches. This value represents in the medieval Spanish society that even though a majority of the people were

The Culture of Haiti Carrie St. Jean Axia College of University of Phoenix What does the average American really know about the country, Haiti? Is the lifestyle all black magic, spells, and séances? Is this media portrayal of Voodoo the only way of life and what is Voodoo, any way? These questions come to mind when someone wants to know the truth about Haitian culture and life in Haiti. Haitian culture consists of deep rooted religious beliefs, music, and Haitian cuisine

“Sundiata: an Epic of Old Mali”: A Character Analysis of Sundiata. Sundiata is an oral epic passed from griot to griot. D.T. Niane’s Sundiata contains many powerful characters. Throughout the story Niane uses the strength and weaknesses of his characters to show the importance of destiny and fate. The character that holds his name to the story, Sundiata, is the son of King Maghan Kon Katta and the “buffalo” woman. Sundiata was prophesized to be a great leader and to save the people of Mali. Sundiata

Rebecca McKenney Introduction to Humanities Mr. Mansur 14 September 2016 Listening Log: Blues Edition The blues. We all get it at one point or another, and it can be helpful to know someone who can relate or knows what you’re going through. But some people aren’t natural talkers or can easily share their feelings. So what do they do? Some turn to the movies or television shows, others read books, and then there are people who just have to sing it in a song. So what exactly is the blues? How did

essentially view the women as their relations and not very much anything else. In this society women are also excluded from official positions of power. To begin with, the epic in fact is related by a man, and there is not one indication of any woman griots anywhere within the novel. Right after a recitation of the kings of Mali leading up to Maghan Kon Fatta (Sundiata's father), a female character is mentioned for the first time: "Oh that woman! She is ugly, she is hideous, and she bares on her back