Racanelli

AAWM JOURNAL VOL. 2 NO. 1 (2012)

Formulaic Variation Procedures in Mande Griot (Jeli) Guitar Playing and Improvisation

David Racanelli

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Abstract:

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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Contributor Information:

David Racanelli Dowling College. In 2010, he earned his Ph. D. in Ethnomusicology from the CUNY Graduate Center, writing his doctoral dissertation on the repertoire and performance practice of Mande griots in New York.

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