Meaning of jeli | Babel Free

Definitions

A member of the hereditary caste of griots among the Mandé peoples, whose social roles include transmitting their people's oral traditions and playing traditional music (jeliya).

Equivalents

Examples

“Jeliya (the art of the jeli) goes back to the thirteenth-century origins of the Mali empire, although the institution of the griot in West Africa probably stems from the earlier Ghana empire (also known as Wagadu), which declined in the late eleventh century.”

CEFR level