West African Cultural Traditions [Introduction]

Storytellers/Musicians/Poets who maintain a tradition of oral history in parts of West Africa.

• Kora

• Griot

• Kinship

• Clan

How does the Lizard reveal Gizo's dishonesty?

• the lizard shared that Gizo had forgotten the water bottle at the wedding

• the lizard shared that Gizo had forgotten the water bottle at the king's court

• the lizard shared that Gizo had forgotten the water bottle after the wedding

How does Gizo trick the king and his daughter?

• he didn't drink any juice from the dimniya tree

• he rinsed his mouth out with water

• he mixed the dimniya tree juice with water

When the people learn of Gizo's trick, what happens to the marriage?

• he stays married married to the princess

• the princess asks for a divorce

• the marriage is annulled

• the princess falls in love with Gizo

Like a xylophone it is made of wooden bars laid across a frame. The musician strikes the bars with a mallet, or hammer, to make melodies.

• balafon

• kora

• ngoni

• guitar

is a harplike instrument with 21 strings. The body is made of a gourd that has been cut in half and covered with cow-hide.

• balafon

• kora

• ngoni

• guitar

is a small stringed instrument made of hollowed-out wood carved in a shape similar to a canoe. It is the most popular traditional stringed instrument in Mali today.

• balafon

• kora

• ngoni

• guitar

a type of folktale that features an animal or human character who typically engages in trickery, violence, and magic. The trickster is usually punished.

• griot

• genealogies

• Folktales

• trickster tale

a story that often provides a moral lesson and is passed down orally, becoming part of a culture’s tradition

• griot

• genealogies

• Folktales

• trickster tale

popular or short sayings of wisdom or truth...

• genealogies

• verbal

• transmitted

• proverbs