Latest / Mansa Musa: The Richest Man Who Ever Lived — Fexingo History
The Griot Who Remembered Mansa Musa: Jeli Mamoudou Kouyaté
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the legacy of the griots — the jeliw — of the Mali Empire, focusing on the most famous of them all: Jeli Mamoudou Kouyaté, who recited the Epic of Sundiata in the 1950s. They discuss how oral tradition preserved the history of the Keita dynasty, including Mansa Musa, long before written sources like those of Al-Umari and Ibn Battuta. Lucas explains the training and social role of the jeliw, the musical instruments they used (the kora, the balafon), and how the epic was transcribed by D.T. Niane. They also touch on the controversy of oral vs. written…
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