Page 99 - Empires of Medieval West Africa

E m p i r E s o f m E d i E v a l w E s t a f r i c a

Blacksmiths are usually woodcarvers as well as ironworkers. They
carve handles for iron tools and sculpt masks and small statues for
ceremonial rituals. Some blacksmiths become goldsmiths who spe-
cialize in turning the gold of Mande into beautiful bracelets, neck-
laces, earrings, and other ornaments that are sold according to their
weight. Other blacksmiths specialize in brick-making and building
construction.

The BardS of Mande

Bards throughout the Western Sudan, from the Atlantic coast to
beyond the Niger Bend, are popularly known by the term griot (pro-
nounced gree-oh). But in Mande culture they are called jeliw or jelilu
(the singular is jeli). They are the artists responsible for maintaining
the lively oral tradition that recalls the deeds of the early ancestors.
Their story telling keeps these ancestors and their actions alive in the
community’s collective memory.
As the main narrators of oral tradition, the jeliw have been respon-
sible for preserving stories that express what the Mande peoples believe
happened in the distant past. Stories of the ancestors were passed from
one generation of jeliw to the next, down through the centuries. The
Mande aristocratic families frame their own identities by recounting
how they descended from the ancestors described in these stories. As
specialists in maintaining the oral history of their culture, jeliw are
known to their own people as Guardians of the Word.
The spoken word is believed to carry great power that can be a
force for good or evil. In early times, the jeliw served as the spokesper-
sons of chiefs and kings, and were therefore responsible for the reputa-
tion the king had in the community. Generations of jeli families were
permanently attached to leading households and ruling dynasties. The
rulers provided them with everything required to support their fami-
lies in exchange for their services in the verbal arts. The jeliw fulfilled
these responsibilities with praise songs and narratives describing the
great deeds of the leader’s ancestors.
As advisers to distinguished people, jeliw encouraged these leaders
to achieve high goals by reminding them of the examples set by their
heroic ancestors. The jeliw would point out mistakes through the use
of proverbs, and advise the leaders to do better when they threatened to
fail in their duties.