Mauritania : chants de femme (1958)

Mauritania became an independent nation in November 1960.
In Mauritania alongside popular music, which is hardly known, there is scholarly music, the domain of these professional musicians who are commonly called "griots". The griot is a repository of oral tradition and is often seen as a leader due to their position as an advisor to royal personages. As a result of the former of these two functions, they are sometimes called a bard.It is a very elaborate art and governed, like the poetry to which it is intimately linked, by a complex set of rules and principles. In African languages, griots are referred to by a number of names: jeli in northern Mande areas, jali in southern Mande areas, guewel in Wolof, gawlo in Pulaar (Fula), iggawen in Hassaniyan, arokin in Yoruba and diari or gesere in Soninke. Griots form an endogamous caste, meaning that most of them only marry fellow griots and those who are not griots do not typically perform the same functions that griots perform.

Francis Bebey writes about the griot in African Music, A People's Art:

"The West African griot is a troubadour, the counterpart of the medieval European minstrel... The griot knows everything that is going on... He is a living archive of the people's traditions... The virtuoso talents of the griots command universal admiration. This virtuosity is the culmination of long years of study and hard work under the tuition of a teacher who is often a father or uncle. The profession is by no means a male prerogative. There are many women griots whose talents as singers and musicians are equally remarkable."

Infos from wikipedia and back cover of:

° République Islamique de Mauritanie: Chants de Femme par Nasserhalla mint Ngheïmich – Musée de l'Homme - Chants Maures Vol. 1 – LD 45-3, recorded by Claude Ernoult, 1958 (Vinyl 7 inch, 45 RPM published in 1960).

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