You may wonder how stories survived long before print. Oral storytelling traditions did it through memory, trained performers and constant retelling, and they still thrive today.
This guide is part of a wider look at literature and society, where spoken and written art meet.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Professional storytellers in Germany and the USA | Hundreds |
| Niger’s joking kinship customs added to the UNESCO List | 2014 |
| Lomé conference that recommended joking kinship for peace | 2015 |
| Period of the Soundjanta saga of the Malian Empire | 13th century |
| Publication of the Le Blob investigation on African orality | April 2021 |
The figures come from UNESCO’s page on oral traditions and expressions and from Le Blob’s investigation into orality in the digital age. Figures and listings can change, so check the sources before you rely on them.
What counts as an oral tradition?
UNESCO treats oral traditions and expressions as one domain of intangible cultural heritage. According to its description of the domain, it covers an enormous variety of spoken forms, including:
- proverbs and riddles
- tales, legends and myths
- nursery rhymes, songs and chants
- epic songs and poems
- charms and prayers
- dramatic performances
These forms are used to pass on knowledge, cultural and social values and collective memory. In other words, an oral tradition is rarely only entertainment. It is also a way a community teaches itself who it is.
Access to these forms is not always open. Some types of oral expression can be used by entire communities, while others are limited to particular social groups, such as only men or women, or only the elderly. The same UNESCO page shows the hudhud chants of the Ifugao as one illustrated example.
Griots and other professional keepers of memory
In many societies, performing oral traditions is a highly specialized occupation. UNESCO notes that the community holds professional performers in the highest regard as guardians of collective memory.
The best-known examples come from West Africa. UNESCO names the griots and dyelli from Africa, and Le Blob describes the griot as a role assigned to a line of musicians, praise singers or historians. The picture of a griot beneath a tree, surrounded by listeners, is a familiar image of African orality, though Le Blob adds that, like many stereotypes, it is not completely false but only part of the story.
Professional telling is not only a non-Western story. UNESCO points to a rich oral tradition in Europe and North America as well, and says that in Germany and the USA there are hundreds of professional storytellers.
Drums, names and jokes in West African oral life
Oral tradition is wider than the told tale. Le Blob’s investigation shows how rhythm, naming and humour carry meaning in West African communities.
Talking drums
The study of drummed messages is called bendrology. To understand those messages, you must know the language whose musical pattern they reflect. A drummed phrase, “red invades the land”, translated from Mooré, a language of Burkina Faso, announces imminent danger.
Frédéric Titinga Pacéré, a writer and the first lawyer from Burkina Faso, has promoted this science and dedicated a museum to it.
Names that carry messages
A name in this setting is rarely random. In Senegal, a child born after more than one miscarriage will be named Yaaxam, a Wolof term meaning “stay alive or die if you want”, which is intended to ward off bad luck.
Among the Mossi people in Burkina Faso, a child may be called Noaga (chicken) or Bouanga (donkey), to fool death into thinking the child is an animal. Le Blob also stresses that to understand a name, you must be part of the cultural community that gave it.
Joking kinship
Joking kinship is a ritualised practice that can defuse conflicts between communities. In Mali, the Bozos call Dogon food “horse fodder”, and the Dogons retort that a Bozo is a “land fish”, the weakest creature of all.
A conference held in Lomé, Togo, in 2015 recommended using the practice to promote peace on the continent. As of Le Blob’s April 2021 report, joking kinship customs in Niger had been added to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014.
Why no two tellings are the same
Because they are passed on by word of mouth, oral traditions often vary significantly in their telling, as UNESCO’s page explains. Each story is a combination of reproduction, improvisation and creation, and the mix differs from genre to genre, context to context and performer to performer.
This is why a printed tale shows only a single telling. The performer, the audience and the occasion all shape what is said, and none of them fit on the page.
If you read a transcribed tale, a few habits help:
- Ask who told it, and to whom.
- Note the language, since drum messages and names depend on it.
- Look for other versions, because variation is normal rather than a flaw.
Oral storytelling in the digital age
Le Blob reports that oral heritage was looked down upon during the colonial period, but that it does not belong to an outdated Africa. Communication technology and globalisation have led to neo-oralities, which give oral tradition a new lease of life.
Stories told in the past can now be recorded, studied and archived. New forms have also appeared, the most iconic of which is slam. Le Blob describes it as a non-traditional orality, also based on old tales, that is more suited to dissemination than transmission.
Researchers are building online resources as well. The ELLAF website publishes texts on oral tradition, such as a book of lullabies in Somali, and Verba Africana has produced a DVD about the saga of Soundjanta, an account of the Malian Empire in the 13th century, with themes covered by the Kela griot Lansiné Diabaté.
Where oral and written literature meet
Le Blob notes that African oral narratives provide material for the continent’s writers, circulate on social networks and are studied at university. The line between spoken and written art is therefore porous.
For a wider frame on how spoken art sits beside the printed canon, read this explainer on what is world literature. Print also has its own history of control and censorship, which you can follow in this overview of banned books history.
A few points to carry away:
- Oral traditions include far more than tales, from proverbs to drummed messages.
- Skilled performers are often honoured as guardians of collective memory.
- Every telling blends reproduction, improvisation and creation.
- Recording and online sharing now sit alongside live performance.
Frequently asked questions
What are oral storytelling traditions?
Show answer
They are spoken forms such as tales, legends, myths, proverbs, riddles and epic songs. UNESCO says they are used to pass on knowledge, cultural and social values and collective memory.
What is a griot?
Show answer
Le Blob describes the griot as a role assigned to a line of musicians, praise singers or historians. UNESCO also names the griots and dyelli from Africa as well-known storytellers and poets.
Why do oral stories change from telling to telling?
Show answer
UNESCO explains that stories combine reproduction, improvisation and creation. The mix differs from genre to genre, context to context and performer to performer.
What is joking kinship?
Show answer
It is a ritualised joking practice that Le Blob says can defuse conflicts between communities in West Africa. Niger’s joking kinship customs were added to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014, as reported in Le Blob’s April 2021 investigation.
Do oral traditions still exist today?
Show answer
Yes. Le Blob reports that traditional orality remains alive in inherited and novel forms, given a new lease of life by social networks, dedicated applications and academic study.
