What is Griot?
[[File:Griots.jpg|thumb|right|250px|{{Center|Griots}}]] A '''griot'''{{efn|A female griot was called a griottess.<ref name=Alexander48/>}} or '''Jeli''' is a [[West Africa]]n [[historian]], storyteller, [[musician]], [[genealogy|genealogist]], [[spokesperson]], [[diplomat]], [[teacher]], praise-singer{{efn|A praise-singer is also called an ''imbongi''. Their [[bard]]ic function was to create poems and songs about great [[Africa]]n [[wikt:chief|chief]]s or [[leader]]s praising them.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/imbongi |title=imbongi |publisher=Oxford Dictionaries |access-date=4 January 2016 |archive-date=24 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124015730/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/imbongi |url-status=dead }}</ref>}} and more.<ref name=BucknellU>{{cite web |url=https://www.bucknell.edu/Documents/GriotInstitute/What%20is%20a%20Griot.pdf |title=What is a Griot? |publisher=Bucknell University |access-date=4 January 2016 |archive-date=9 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109024542/https://www.bucknell.edu/Documents/GriotInstitute/What%20is%20a%20Griot.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> There is really no word in the [[English language]] that fully explains what a griot does. Not every griot does all these things, but these are some [[example]]s of what their function is.<ref name=BucknellU/> == Their role == A griot was a [[civil servant|public servant]], an [[artist]], and a [[royal]] [[counselor]].<ref name=Juang482>''Africa and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History'', Volume 3, eds. Richard M Juang; Noelle Morrissette (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2008), p. 482</ref> His [[fate]] depended on the [[prosperity]] and [[wikt:survival|survival]] of the [[king]] or [[queen]] he served. He preserved the [[oral history]] of his [[tribe]] or people. In the [[Caribbean]] and the [[Americas]] he was the link to their African [[culture]] and history.<ref name=Juang482/> The griot was the only person that