Role Reconstruction and Functional Adaptation: West African Griot Traditions in Tanzania’s Musical Contexts
Abstract
Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Arusha and Zanzibar, the research highlights how Bongo Flava artists, Maasai ritual musicians, and Taarab ensembles selectively inherit, reinterpret, and reframe the West African griot’s core functions –storytelling, social commentary, mediation, and intergenerational transmission– in ways that resonate with their social and cultural environments. The paper argues that griot functions do not migrate intact across cultural boundaries but undergo processes of role reconstruction and cultural adaptation, mediated by linguistic diversity, community structures, and institutional contexts. This Tanzanian case contributes to broader debates on cultural flow, performance, and the transformation of traditional roles.
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