Griot Quotes & Sayings

In the pursuit of greater equality in our education system, from K to PhD, technology access, print literacies, and verbal skill all collide as requirements for even basic participation in an information-based, technology-dependent economy and society. — Adam J. Banks

And a ride in a hearse tells us we're all close to that final cruise ... when the body dies and we move on. It's just the body, man. It's just the body. The soul's already gone. So don't be afraid of a dead body absent a soul. It's empty, man. No resident. What you need to worry about is a living body that's lost its soul. Now that is scary, man. - Funk N. Wagnalls, owner of the Grim Reapers auto lot, a character in Professor Brown Shoes Teaches the Blues. — David Mutti Clark

This poet is a griot in search of a village. — Kwame Dawes

The music echoes in the emptiness. It reminds us where we came from and where we're bound. — David Mutti Clark

I preserve my world
in journals so my children
can eat without me — Nikki Skies

The word griot ... is the word for what I do and the role that the filmmaker has in society ... the griot is a messenger of one's time, a visionary and the creator of the future. — Djibril Diop Mambety

sometimes it's easier to search for treasure than to find it, because finding it forces you to make decisions about what to do with it, and it makes you fear the reality of how hard it may be to keep it without becoming a slave to it! — The Urban Griot

I acknowledge immense debt to the griots [tribal poets] of Africa - where today it is rightly said that when a griot dies, it is as if a library has burned to the ground. — Alex Haley

Your muse ain't singin' on your MTV? Can't even see him on your HD TV? — David Mutti Clark

THE SAME THING happened if GRIOT was told that the jailbird was Hispanic. It was somewhat more optimistic about Whites, if they could read and write, and had never been in a mental hospital or been given a Dishonorable Discharge from the Armed Forces. Otherwise, they might as well be Black or Hispanic. — Kurt Vonnegut

I see myself as the oldest griot tradition of speaking to truth out here. There's a dark side that people don't even know is there. — Malik Yusef

You got infinite channels and limitless rhymes, but the riddles of livin' stay undefined? — David Mutti Clark

And here's to the blues, the real blues - where there's a hint of hope in every cry of desperation. — David Mutti Clark

We start our lives with blues ... with music. It's our first language. It's the rhythm of the womb. It's your mama's heartbeat inside your head. — David Mutti Clark

According to a study conducted by the Oxford African American Studies Center, hip hop is part of and speaks to a long line of black American and African traditions. Many observers also make a connection between rap and West African griot tradition, the art of wandering storytellers known for their knowledge of local settings and their superior vocal skills. — Carlos Wallace