The Griot's Tale
At one point in my life, I was a field executive for a video game retailer. There is a whole host of connotations that came along with my explanations when confronted, mostly centered around how much fun I must have at work. As it was with most management positions in retail organizations, my work rarely related directly to the medium with which it centered, and was often more about interpersonal dynamics, human resources and development, and sales. I preferred people skills over gaming skillz when hiring, and the environment was often hostile towards any type of actual enjoyment. We were better at creating the illusion of fun for the consumer at the sacrifice of the employee, but this was certainly a result of the company philosophy more so than the medium of electronic gaming. My departure had more to do with personal convictions and a strong desire to return to my true calling: a humble bard with a bass strapped to his back, combing the wasteland with adventures to weave, and songs to sing.
While the term ‘bard’ has its roots in Celtic language and the archetype morphed across time to include playwrights, singers, and authors, the one I found myself intrenched in today came from the 1984 video game, The Bard’s Tale. The back story behind the game’s development and its subsequent sequels is fascinating, and the release ad reads’ “When the Going Gets Tough, The Bard Gets Drinking”. The mythology behind the bard was obviously the background inspiration to this adventure experience, and the fascination with the magical properties of music continues on today. Music in video games has shown to have profound results of the effectiveness of its engagement, as far back as the quickening pace of the rhythms in “Space Invaders”, where as the danger looms closer, the music gets faster and faster. While this is a more obvious example, in the past few decades, entire symphonic performances have been dedicated to video game music, based on the passion and expressive evolutions of its composition. UCLA has an amazing orchestra devoted to the performance of video game music. I had the pleasure of performing with a few of their members at Ventura College during a rendition of Mahler’s 1st Symphony. Check them out here. Or better yet, read NPR’s review of the 2007 Symphony for Space Invaders.
For the bard though, there is a type of modern-day bard whose history run far back into the depths of the Mali Empire in West Africa and lives today in Senegal and other major cultural centers. The tale of the griot is as fascinating as the songs they sing. Often traveling with either a drum or the kora (an African harp) they speak the history and knowledge of their culture. At one time they were advisors and emissaries for their kingdoms. Today they often populate the streets as modern-day buskers and keepers of the folk traditions. Sibo Bangoura shares his performance of the kora and djembe in his Ted Talk, and I found myself lost in its mysterious melody.
For the next few weeks, I’ll be diving deeper into this rich history of the griot, and I look forward to hearing more of the incredible music. It’s story has traveled through the cities and villages of the African continent, to the colonies of the Indies, Australia, and the Americas, transformed the cultural languages of western art music, and evolved many of the music traditions in modern popular artists. The bard that you may be familiar with might only exist in the code in the latest online adventure. The one I’m going to research for a while has circled the globe and helped put the soundtrack behind the story.
Here is Sibo Bangoura, telling his version of a traditional West African song, Nan Fulie, about the importance of the Griot people - the West African musicians, storytellers, custodians, and teachers of tradition through music and dance: