Jeli music: applying the art of storytelling in the context of curating exhibitions
The videos below are of my dad’s first trip back to Sierra Leone after leaving in the late 1980s. The soundtrack of this trip back home mostly consists of the melodic sounds of Mandinka Jeli music. There are roughly 16 nations in Sierra Leone and my father comes from the Mandinka nation. Growing up, my family were big listeners of Jeli music, the likes of Sekouba Bambino, Mory Kante and more accompanied us on our car journeys. Although I could never understand what was being said as I wasn’t taught how to speak Mandinka, I always felt moved by this genre of music. My grandma came to London in 2002 after the war in Sierra Leone and would often translate what was being said into Krio. Originating from Mali, Jeli music is an oral tradition delivered by a jeli (griot) to share histories and stories of the past with the community.
Since the completion of my MA, I have been thinking about the tools that I can implement in my curatorial practice to make the exhibitions I curate both engaging and accessible. For my final project, I explored the idea of incorporating spatial and sound design into the curatorial process and how this can enhance both engagement and accessibility. One of the key findings from my research was that using storytelling as a foundation is key to delivering engaging experiences. In ‘Narrative Environments: Space as a medium of communication’ Tricia Austin puts forward a three-part framework that can be used to achieve this; storyworld and the world of story, multimodality and spatial arrangement. The techniques storyworld and the world of story work together in a physical context to trigger the imagination of the visitor and transport them to a different world mentally. Austin states ‘The space of a narrative environment is experienced as physically present but it is also used as a cue to evoke a storyworld in the mind of the visitor, providing a double deictic centre.’
The idea that storytelling is central to high quality and engaging exhibition is not a new one. This has been addressed by a number of people within the art world. Museums, especially, have shifted their focus towards better storytelling to address the shift of their place in society as the interests of society evolves. Some museums are exploring how technology can aid their storytelling.
So where does Jeli music fit into this? Storytelling is at the heart of Jeli music. For me, one of the responsibilities of a curator is to be a conduit for expression and to bring different ideas and voices to the attention of the public. Jeli music provides a framework that curators can borrow to achieve this. I am interested in the storytelling techniques that jelis use and how they can be applied in the context of curating exhibitions.
Jeli Music
The oral tradition of Jeli music originates from the Mali Empire founded by Sundiata Keita in the 13th Century. During this time period, jelis served as advisers, mediators, historians, record keepers, storytellers and masters of ceromonies. They were highly revered in society and this role was fulfilled by both men and women. Jelis were invited to perform at weddings, birthing ceremonies and prestigious events hosted by ruling families. To ensure that he would be well advised during his reign, Sundiata Keita’s father gifted him a griot named Balla Fasséké, who is considered to be the first jeli of the Kouyaté lineage, that still exists today. Musicians would play alongside the jelis using instruments such as the kora, the balafon, the ngoni and more.
“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.” Francis Bebey, African Music, A People’s Art
Bringing this to present day, Jeli music has spread wide and far, you can find jelis in Sierra Leone, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Ivory Coast and more. The art form is still cherished and jeli musicians are considered to be pillars of society who retain the intricate stories of the past. The method in which they deliver the music has largely been preserved; jelis take their stories to the people, they use music to carry their voices and they build their knowledge bank to contextualise the stories they are telling. I will focus on how curators can apply this simple yet beautiful methodology in the context of curating.
Curating exhibitions
In the realm of exhibitons, I believe the role of the jeli is split between the artist and the curator. The artist is who the people come to see, they are sharing stories and embody the performance aspect of the role. The curator, on the other hand, takes a more of a hidden role. They facilitate and enhance the storytelling and act as an arbitrator between visitors and the artist. Curators help to communicate works of art in a language that feels familiar to both the artist and the audience. Whether at an institution or an independent gallery, curators play a crucial role in what stories are being shared and how they are being shared.
Earlier, I identified three ingredients that jeli musicians use; taking their stories to the people, music as a tool to supplement their storytelling and finally building their knowledge. I will look at how curators can actualise each of these components in their practice.
Taking stories to the people
Exhibitions typically take place within an art space; usually a museum or a gallery. During the lockdown, Black Curatorial Labs held space for curators to share ideas, we were thinking about what engagement with art looks like whilst we’re all at home. Founder Aliyah Hasinah raised an excellent point of if all museums and galleries are closed, why not take art to the supermarket where we all are? This is a perfect example of ‘taking stories to the people’. Flat 70, a not-for-profit art space, also embraced this idea during the lockdown with their exhibition ‘Reclaim Space’. They took over digital screens across their home neighbourhood of Elephant & Castle as well as some extra iconic locations in the heart of London’s cultural districts, Southbank and Shoreditch.
Jeli music would be performed outdoors to the public, how can curators borrow from this idea? First and foremost, who do you want to engage with? Where are the spaces your targeted communities frequent? Do you know how they like to engage with art? Is it a virtual space? How long would they like to see something for? For those in more rural areas, how can you work with local businesses to facilitate these ideas? These questions will serve as a pathway to identifying the way in which you take stories to the people.
Music as a tool to supplement their storytelling
As mentioned above, the focus of my final project was on incorporating sound and spatial design in curatorial practice to create experiences that enhance levels of accessibility and engagement. Whilst jelis used music to facilitate their storytelling, I think curators can explore other practices beyond music for example spatial design. Both sound and space can be used as mediums of communication. Curators can make use of spatial arrangement to communicate with an audience, for example, placing a chair in front of an artwork is a way of inviting the participant to sit. Tom Everrett is one of a few academics who explore the possibility of incorporating sound design into curatorial practice. He provides curators with a process-based approach that addresses sound design at the beginning of the exhibition development process in his text ‘A Curatorial Guide to Museum Sound Design’.
How can this be implemented? Thinking about accessibility is a great starting point for this. How will this other practice aid how your audience receives the story being imparted? This understanding will mould how you make use of this practice and apply it to the exhibition on show. HOME by Ronan Mckenzie, Kunstraum and NOW Gallery in London are great examples of spaces using both spatial design and sound design to enhance their exhibitions. Shape Arts also has a great resource on curating accessible exhibitions through using different technologies.
Building knowledge
What makes the jeli music so enchanting is the depth of the storytelling, you are taken on a journey through time. This level of intricacy can only be attained through rigorous learning. Jelis undergo years of study with some form of tutor before taking on their role. They also spend time amongst family members soaking up stories and histories. Similar to jelis, research and learning underpins the role of a curator. What strikes me as particularly interesting is the way in which they learn, jelis spend the early part of their career listening and absorbing information. Eric Charry (2000) compares this process of learning to osmosis.
Linking this directly to exhibitions about specific experiences and communities or exhibitions about new ideas, the question of how curators can diversify their methods of research to deliver honest exhibitions arises. Naturally, reading is a great way to research and learn, however, it is only one way of acquiring knowledge. With desk research, there is a level of distance between you and the information you are seeking. Directly spending time with your audiences through conversation allows for a richer and closer understanding.
Conclusion
As people move around the world and societal landscapes shift, so does the art world’s responsibility to uncover new ways of communicating in languages familiar to the audiences they seek to share space with. Bringing these forms of storytelling to the forefront opens up the art world to new audiences. It means that those who wish to engage with art do not have to acquiesce to one mode of doing so. Curators can be agents of change in this space by critically engaging with how they want to share stories.
Jeli music has served as an entry point to uncovering how I would like to build my own curatorial practice. The production of this art form is warm, dynamic, intimate and most importantly familiar, exactly how I want the exhibitions I curate to feel.
References
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Agatucci, C., 2005. Mali Empire & Griot Traditions. [online] Web.cocc.edu. Available at: <http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/CoursePack/coursepackpast/maligriot.htm> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
AUSTIN, T., 2021. NARRATIVE ENVIRONMENTS AND EXPERIENCE DESIGN. [S.l.]: ROUTLEDGE.
Bebey, F., 1975. African Music. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.
Charry, E., 2000. Mande music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ducksters.com. 2021. Ancient Africa for Kids: Griots and Storytellers. [online] Available at: <https://www.ducksters.com/history/africa/griots_storytellers.php#:~:text=There%20are%20still%20many%20modern,griots%20today%20are%20traveling%20griots.> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Keita, S., 2019. My Culture, Griot Tradition. [online] Available at: <https://www.seckoukeita.com/my-culture#:~:text=Griots%20originated%20in%20the%2013th,the%20kora%20or%20the%20balafon.> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Okoh, L., 2018. What Is a Griot and Why Are They Important?. [online] The Culture Trip. Available at: <https://theculturetrip.com/africa/mali/articles/what-is-a-griot-and-why-are-they-important/> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
Omeka-s.grinnell.edu. n.d. Jeliya Instruments of Mandinka Hereditary Musicians from The Gambia · Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection · Grinnell College Libraries. [online] Available at: <https://omeka-s.grinnell.edu/s/MusicalInstruments/page/jeliya> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
