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Words of Griots

We are vessels of speech, we are the repositories which harbor secrets many centuries old & without us the names of kings would vanish from oblivion, we are the memory of mankind; by the spoken word we bring to life the deeds and exploits of kings for younger generations.

History holds no mystery for us; we teach to the vulgar just as much as we want to teach them,for it is we who keep the keys to the twelve doors of Mali
I teach the kings of their ancestors so that the lives of ancients might serve them as an example, for the world is old but the future springs from the past.
-The words of the Mali griot Mamadou Kouyate,

Quoted in D. T. Niane, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali A.D. 1217-1237