ISSN 2158-5296
 
 
AAWM JOURNAL VOL. 2 NO. 1 (2012)
 
Formulaic Variation Procedures in Mande Griot (Jeli) Guitar Playing and Improvisation

David Racanelli


In this article, I examine the extensive use of formulas in the guitar playing and improvisation of Mande griots, who are hereditary professional musicians of West Africa. Based upon five years of research as a close participant-observer of griots in New York City, I suggest that musical formulas act as expressions in forms of musical talk (parole) in determining the style (langue) of griot guitar music. As a part of shared discourse amongst griots and their non-griot collaborators, formulas are used to form larger structures or episodes in solos, which characterize improvisation in extended jam sequences. Once primarily a verbal art, diasporic jeliya or the art of the griot in New York City has been constituted as an improvisational instrumental practice by griot and non-griot musicians.


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