At a wedding, Fatoumatta Bah could not stomach the conduct of the griots, especially when money was being thrown around. “I hate to see them take over events, and turn them into some money-making enterprise,” she complained, adding that they would have no place in her marriage ceremony if at all she is to get married in The Gambia. She may be alone in her quest to get married outside the Gambia, deliver her kids, and save them from the uncertain future of our country. But she is not alone in her observation and is irritation or grievance ignited by the ‘griots” in almost every social ceremony one attends in The Gambia.
I have myself severally shaken my head in disbelief while watching griots ‘battle’ over dominance in events that they were barely invited to grace. “I blame your Western miseducation,” my uncle will say. I typically will excuse him for believing “common sense” is Western. Contrary to his belief, I am well aware that the ‘griot class’ (as it then was) is native to the stratification of our society; and no sane person would desire to interrogate their relevance, not the least, because it would amount to disrespecting a core part of our culture, a constituent of the sum of factors that define our very existence as a people.
Therefore, Fatoumatta Bah’s irritation and all the foregoing observations I shall make here about ‘griots’ are not an attempt to inquire into the relevance of griots (as they were) in our society but to question a new group of griots in suits and tides absorbed in overthrowing the noble culture of griotdom. At first, it will ordinarily appear to many that the current experiences of “the griotic class” and the “odd feeling” that the “new generation of younger “Africans” like Fatoumatta and myself held toward them are informed by generational variances and the trials typically faced by a decaying culture and additional struggle to square the conflicting characteristics of the Indigenous People of The Gambia and the ruins of colonialism in Africa—a stern clash of cultures.
But beyond a cultural clash, it will appear that there is a new class of griots that emanates out of a deliberate shift, especially among the intellectual members (so-called) of our society, mostly bourgeois or want-to-be bourgeoisie in exploiting what I would describe as the decaying culture of “griots,” which today is, unfortunately, the subject I did associate with the trade of persons with conceited characters and unprincipled-ness.
This “deliberate shift” from the very essence of “griots” is noticeable in all spheres of our society, particularly among the political class. I did not remind us earlier, and perhaps I now need to do so, that griots are or were renowned praise singers. My Wolof neighbors call them gewel. The Mandinka, Jali (Jeli). The Serer, ever the good friends of the letter K, pronounce it slightly differently from the Wollof-‘kewel’. In Manjako they are called…ah, I don’t know!
But I certainly know that griots, in the classical setting of our societies, were figures that commanded respect and some degree of authority in the preservation of our culture, history, and diverse aspects of our heritage. They were brave and principled people, some of whom were so close to power, and even served as kings’ advisors in some clans and kingdoms.
When colonialism came with its governance system, it necessitated several changes in our social governance structure. Kings were replaced by presidents, and the people generally assumed more direct roles in the constitution of leadership in society. However, this change not only further pushed away the griot class from political authority but largely diminished them to a single function, “praise singing.” Similarly, while “kings” were replaced by “presidents,” the political culture of our society, which is largely influenced by our diverse cultural aspects, including the roles of griots, continued but only that the “typical griot class” no longer performed such functions but elements of the political class.
The elements of the political class, who assume the roles of griots, are a class of griots in suits, still appropriate if you would call them “professional griots,” and play no function associated with the roles previously played by “classical griots” in our society. This new ‘class of griots’ simply presents groups of few “intellectuals” (so-called) with the desire to harvest unjustly from a system (unjust in itself). The only function they perform, as it relates to the classical function of griots, is praise singing. When I sat and conversed with Fatoumatta Bah at that wedding, as to how much the fabrics of our society are undergoing some chaotic transformations and particularly pointed at the “New class of griots,” she was skillfully brutal, if you ask me, in describing them as a swaying chorus of opera singers, bogus informants, misogynists who ‘worship’, massage, and shape the egos of leaders. And because I read Alhagie Barrow’s “The Dictator is Us,” I entirely agreed with her description but added that they are makers of dictators, who, in their pursuit of making dictators, could kill in the pitiful trade of professional griotdom.
Fatoumatta Bah did not seem to know less, and so we each took turns to dissect the “professional griot.” ‘You are right’, she said, with frustration written all over her. ‘They are psychologists, depraved psychologists who understand the nature of the human mind, which, as is evident in many scientific scholarships, when nurtured in a certain manner would result in producing a certain personality such as a dictator. So, by constantly massaging the egos of leaders, they influence their thought processes and “corrupt” their personalities. She is not a political scientist but was well in order when she continued Lord Acton’s advice to Bishop Creighton that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
It is rare for the two of us to agree on many issues, but there we were, agreeing on almost everything except whether we should continue to wait for the bridegroom, who was scheduled to arrive by 7pm, but at 11pm, the griots were in charge. I have learned that the best way to honor invitations here is to come late, but since we were already long seated, it was best to waste the rest of the night waiting.
‘This class of griots is wise but stupid’. I took over. ‘Wise in that they understand that by feigning to be unwise and less significant members of society (regardless of their ‘education’) and by appearing to not even care about themselves but the leaders or persons they directly sought to worship; they would receive some favours in turn. They understand that by dancing to the ‘tam-tam’ and every desire of those in the political power structure, regardless of how odd their requests are, they would be in their “good books.” Stupid, because this they do, disregarding the fact that the said “good books” have no specific cover or titles and could change depending on what confronts their privileges and interests.
They understand that by acting the way they do and receiving favours in return and by flaunting these ‘favours’ or other benefits received, weak members of society, especially the less privileged, would be lured into envying them. They are equally certain that many will be lured into thinking and believing that the best means of attaining a meaningful life, of being relevant, to survive within what they call ‘the system’, and the political system, is to behave exactly as the new griots behave towards authority or power.: be a praise singer. I added.
The new (old) professional griot is a peculiar breed of griots—supposedly ‘educated’ but entirely unprincipled type of Gambian, mannerless persons within the political power structure. People who present themselves as retarded subjects for public ridicule on behalf of the political leaders they sought to worship. They could kill, incite, misinform, or even seek spiritual interventions to please the powers that be or ‘deal’ with people they consider to be a threat to their trade. They constantly seek to control narratives through distortions and imaginative accounts and thus oppose any idea that seeks to criticise or place their leaders in a bad light, even when it is evident that the leader they idolize is in the wrong.
They are not in the class of the great griots who told the truth to power. They are not the (gewel) of Jollof or Baol who upheld values, who reminded authority of their sacred obligations, and who have the responsibility to defend the integrity, principles, values, morals, and dictates of the wills of the people that ought to reign supreme in the Kingdom. In contrast, the present professional griot is the misrepresentation, the direct contrast to the griots of the ancient representation who had cherished morals, values, wisdom, and integrity. If anything, the present professional griots are those exploiting a trade that previously belonged to those who represented everything that counts for the well-being of society.
It is evident that griots played dynamic functions in our ancient political culture, but their roles have been diminished by several factors. The cultural aspect of ‘praise singing’ by griots, has nevertheless been transformed (albeit without objective purpose) and indeed occupies a place in our political culture. The problem is that it poses a great threat to accountable leadership, especially when it is being performed by ‘men and women’ in suits, who, on the contrary, are supposed to serve as objective and principled guides to leadership in the political power structure.
For the good of society, and the governance system in general, griotdom, or the culture of undue praise singing, does not accord respect to professionals; it dilutes their expertise and independence. It is expected that a professional must not only be alert, principled, forward-looking, and loyal to the state, in the same manner, that the classical griots were loyal to the ‘throne’ and not necessarily the kings that occupy it, but must equally possess, great character and vision to help guide those in the power structure oversee the affairs of the people diligently. That function cannot be done when one simply behaves like a griot. Therefore, we must not develop feelings of subservience and servility toward political authority and power.
