MUS 1302 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Freestyle Rap, Melle Mel, The Cold Crush Brothers
18 Feb 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
African roots of rap: storytelling genres, the jeli/griot, the trickerster, toasting, boasting, playing the dozen/signifyin", storytelling genres, jeli/griot. Jeli is a west african mand (jali in mandinka) term for a musician, storyteller, and historian whose role would be similar to a european bard. Known for being able to recite long and complex tales/stories from memory (oral tradition) Jeli"s are the teachers of community history and culture. Term griot was coined by early french colonists who came into contact with the mande people. Often accompanied by the kora (harp), kona (lute), or bala (xylophone). While the term jeli comes from the mande linguistic/ethnic groups, the term griot has been applied to similar roles in other african contexts. Notes: memorization skills, teachers of culture, often accompany story w/simple instrument (speak. The archetype of the trickster is present in virtually every culture. Native north american trickster old man coyote (crowe), wisakedjak (cree), etc.
