Diasporic jeliya in New York: A study of Mande griot repertoire and performance practice
Item
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Title
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Diasporic jeliya in New York: A study of Mande griot repertoire and performance practice
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:a19bfc00b374:10382
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identifier
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10487
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Creator
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Racanelli, David,
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Contributor
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Peter Manuel
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Date
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2010
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Music | Performing arts | diaspora | griot | Mande | performance | repertoire
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Abstract
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Beginning in the late 1980s, many hereditary professional musicians (griots) from Francophone West Africa began moving abroad, first, to France, and then to North America. In my study, I explore the ways in which Mande griots' experiences in the most recent African diaspora in New York have affected their trade, which embraces some of the most significant musical traditions in sub-Saharan Africa. I examine the degree to which their collaboration with non-griot musicians has reshaped the parameters of their repertoire and performance practice in the New York milieu and world music sphere. Although jeliya in the Mande sphere is conceived as a verbal art, it is recast as groove-based "jam music" in clubs and concert halls; even a vocalist's part is judged upon the basis of its musical merits alone, allowing jeliya to flourish as a vocal art as well. Diasporic jeliya inspires listeners in the Western milieu to respond, act, and reflect in spite of their inability to understand the words of the griot, which are lost or neglected in transit. My work entails a detailed view of their music from the vantage point of a close collaborator (as a guitarist) with extensive professional experience working with griots and their Western associates. Collaborators learn the tools of the griot trade through "intensity of contact" with griots and their music. An array of artists determines the form and content of diasporic jeliya in New York, allowing it to grow and flourish in multiple permutations as marketable entertainment.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Music
