The Great Griots

The griots had many pros, but they had many cons as well. To begin, griots were a very simple way to pass on history. It was passed on from generation to generation. People never had to go to great lengths to hear their songs and stories because chances are there was always a griot near you. Also, they were able to break the history down in a way that was easy to understand and easy to remember. Since most of their stories were told by song, people would probably song those songs at home and remember them. The bad part about them though is that the information may not be extremely accurate. With the story we read for homework tonight, I highly doubt that their leader was that amazing, and I highly doubt that their city flourished that much. It is easy for people to change around the history to fit their needs. That might just be to make the story more entertaining,or the song more catchy. In this day in age,I would say that a textbook is so much more efficient than a griot story. It contains more relevant and accurate facts,and it is not subjective. But, back then when paper was in very short supply and expensive, I think that the griots worked just well. I mean their storied couldn't be all wrong,they had to have some factual backing to them. Hopefully....