The Griot's Voice in Senegalese Cinema: Djibril Diop Mamébty's Adaptation of Oral Poetics

by

and

June 11, 2025

In the history of Senegalese cinema, few figures loom as large as Djibril Diop Mambéty, a filmmaker whose work defies categorization and whose life captures the essence of West African storytelling. Without a day of formal film training to his name, Mambéty created a cinematic language that simultaneously broke all the rules and honored the most ancient of traditions. His experimental approach—blending satire, social commentary, and dreamlike visuals—stands as a modern manifestation of something far older: the art of the griot.

The griot tradition and Mambéty's innovative filmmaking might seem worlds apart—one ancient and oral, the other modern and visual. Yet in the hands of this maverick director, these worlds don't merely coexist; they dance together in a mesmerizing cultural fusion. This article explores how Mambéty channeled the essence of griot storytelling into the medium of film, creating works that honor traditional oral poetics while pushing the boundaries of cinema itself.

Griot Tradition in West Africa

*Armes et instruments de tam-tam (Bambara)” New York Public Library Digital Collections.*

If you've ever encountered the word "griot" (pronounced "GREE-oh") in writing, you're missing half the experience. To fully understand these figures, you should hear their voices, witness their performances, and feel the weight of their cultural significance. In countries like Senegal, Mali, and Gambia, griots are far more than entertainers—they are the keepers of memory, the connectors of past and present, the living embodiments of cultural continuity.

Born into families where the art has been passed down through generations, griots serve as historians, poets, musicians, diplomats, and advisors. In pre-colonial times, kings and chiefs kept griots close, relying on their encyclopedic knowledge of genealogies, historical events, and ancestral wisdom. A ruler without a griot was like a library without books—culturally impoverished and disconnected from the wisdom of the past.

The griot's art is multidimensional and dynamic. Their narratives aren't fixed texts but living entities that evolve with each telling, adapting to new contexts while preserving essential truths. Music typically accompanies their performances, with instruments like the kora (a 21-string harp-lute) or balafon (wooden xylophone) providing melodic and rhythmic foundations. Their storytelling techniques include:

Non-linear narration that weaves through time and space
Strategic repetition that emphasizes key themes and aids memory
Call-and-response patterns that engage listeners as active participants
Rich symbolic language filled with metaphors and proverbs

Though modern education systems and the written word have altered their traditional roles, griots remain vital cultural forces in West African societies, serving as the collective memory of their communities and influencing contemporary art forms—including film.

Djibril Diop Mambéty: Auteur and Innovator in African Filmmaking

*Image of Djibril Diop Mambéty. Source from Wikipedia*

Born in 1945 in the modest suburb of Colobane near Dakar, Djibril Diop Mambéty's path to cinematic greatness began not with cameras but on stage. After a brief theater career that left him disillusioned with conventional artistic expression, he turned to filmmaking without any formal training, armed with nothing but vision and audacity.

His 1969 debut short Contras' City immediately announced a distinctive voice, followed by Badou Boy (1970), which garnered international attention. But it was his 1973 feature Touki Bouki (The Journey of the Hyena) that catapulted him into the pantheon of great filmmakers. This tale of disaffected youth dreaming of escape from Senegal to France became an instant classic for its technical brilliance and symbolic richness.

Then came the silence. Despite his triumph, Mambéty didn't release another feature for nearly twenty years. When he finally returned with Hyènes (1992)—an adaptation of Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Visit transposed to a Senegalese village—it was clear his artistic vision had only deepened. He conceptualized this film as a spiritual continuation of Touki Bouki, exploring themes of cultural identity, postcolonialism, and moral corruption.

In his final years, Mambéty began work on a trilogy of short films titled Contes des Petites Gens (Tales of the Little People), completing Le Franc (1994) and, posthumously, La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil (The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun) (1999).

What made Mambéty's approach revolutionary was his deliberate rejection of conventional Western filmmaking techniques—what he called "Grammar"—in favor of a more intuitive, culturally rooted approach he termed "Grandma." This philosophy positioned him as a cinematic griot, a "messenger of his time" using film to reflect on and critique social realities. His lack of formal training may have been his greatest asset, freeing him to draw inspiration from the oral traditions that surrounded him rather than Western cinematic conventions.

When Orality Meets Visuality: Mambéty's Narrative Techniques

Breaking Linear Time

Griots rarely tell stories chronologically, instead moving fluidly between past and present, creating connections that transcend linear time. Mambéty's films embrace this approach with a vengeance. In Touki Bouki, time becomes elastic—jump cuts, dream sequences, and temporal shifts mirror not just the protagonists' inner turmoil but also the way memory and storytelling function in oral traditions.

Even in the more structurally conventional Hyènes, time folds back on itself as the past returns to haunt the present. This disruption of chronology reflects a distinctly African conception of time as cyclical rather than linear—a worldview embedded in griot storytelling where history doesn't merely precede the present but continuously informs and shapes it.

This approach demands active engagement from viewers, who must piece together narrative fragments much as listeners to a griot's tale must connect different episodes to grasp the story's full meaning. Mambéty doesn't spoon-feed his audience; he invites them into a relationship with the narrative that's participatory rather than passive.

The Power of Repetition

Listen to a griot performance and you'll notice phrases, motifs, and melodies that recur throughout—not from lack of creativity but as deliberate devices that emphasize themes, aid memorization, and create emotional resonance. Mambéty translates this technique to film with masterful precision.

In Touki Bouki, the recurring image of a motorcycle adorned with a zebu skull becomes a visual refrain, while the slightly skipping recording of Josephine Baker singing "Paris, Paris" serves as an aural leitmotif. These repetitions aren't merely stylistic flourishes; they function as the refrains in a griot's song, reinforcing the film's central themes of cultural dislocation and the allure of elsewhere.

The rhythmic editing and pacing of Mambéty's films create a cinematic musicality that echoes the rhythmic nature of oral performance. Sound in his work often takes on an independent narrative function, creating layers of meaning that parallel the way griots use music to complement and enhance their spoken words.

Speaking Through Symbols

Griots are masters of metaphor, using proverbs, allegories, and symbolic language to convey complex ideas and moral lessons. Mambéty's visual vocabulary is similarly rich with symbolism that draws upon shared cultural understandings.

The hyena—appearing in both Touki Bouki and Hyènes—carries multifaceted symbolic weight in West African folklore, representing cunning, marginality, and greed. By centering this figure in his work, Mambéty taps into pre-existing cultural interpretations that resonate with local audiences while creating new symbolic meanings for international viewers.

In Touki Bouki, the juxtaposition of the zebu skull (representing traditional pastoral life) with modern elements like the American flag decorating a stolen car creates visual metaphors for the cultural tensions explored in the narrative. This layering of meaning mirrors the way griots use symbolic language to communicate complex ideas, allowing Mambéty's films to function on multiple levels simultaneously.

Analyzing Mambéty's Key Works Through the Lens of Tradition

Touki Bouki (1973): A Modern Griot's Tale

Touki Bouki stands as perhaps the most vivid example of Mambéty's griot-inspired filmmaking. Its fragmented narrative structure—characterized by jump cuts, dream sequences, and temporal dislocations—echoes the non-linear approach of oral storytelling. The film follows two young Senegalese lovers, Mory and Anta, who dream of escaping to Paris but find their journey complicated by both practical obstacles and deeper questions of identity.

The repetition of key visual and aural motifs—the bull-horned motorcycle, the Josephine Baker song, recurring images of slaughtered cattle—creates a rhythmic structure reminiscent of a griot's performance. Each repetition deepens the motif's significance, transforming simple images into complex symbols.

The film's symbolism is particularly rich. The hyena in the title, as Mambéty himself explained, represents a caricature of humanity, reflecting moral ambiguities and the protagonists' marginalized status. The juxtaposition of traditional elements (the zebu skull) with symbols of Western modernity (the American flag) visualizes the cultural tensions at the heart of postcolonial Senegalese society.

The overall narrative arc—dreams of escape, theft and moral compromise in pursuit of those dreams, and the ultimate moment of truth when escape becomes possible—functions as a modern griot's cautionary tale about the complex relationship between Africa and the West. Mambéty himself viewed the filmmaker's role as akin to that of a griot, using stories to reflect on social realities and moral questions.

Hyènes (1992): Allegory as Social Commentary

While Hyènes follows a more linear narrative structure than Touki Bouki, it nonetheless bears the unmistakable influence of griot storytelling techniques. Based on Dürrenmatt's play but transplanted to a Senegalese setting, the film tells the story of Linguère Ramatou, who returns to her impoverished hometown decades after being banished as a pregnant teenager. Now immensely wealthy, she offers the village a fortune in exchange for the death of Dramaan Drameh, the man who abandoned her.

The film functions as a powerful allegory—a form often employed by griots—about the corrupting influence of wealth and the moral compromises made in pursuit of material prosperity. The symbolism of the hyena reappears, this time representing the way greed transforms ordinary people into predators willing to devour one of their own.

The pacing of Hyènes creates a rhythmic tension that builds toward its inevitable conclusion. Even while working with a more conventional narrative structure, Mambéty infuses the film with visual poetry and symbolic depth that transcend its theatrical origins, transforming it into a distinctly Senegalese meditation on morality in changing times.

Mambéty's Legacy in Griot Tradition

*“Griots-Instruments de tam-tam (Bambara)” New York Public Library Digital Collections.*

In merging the ancient art of the griot with the modern medium of cinema, Djibril Diop Mambéty created works that resonate across cultures while remaining deeply rooted in Senegalese traditions. His innovative approach—using non-linear narration, repetition, and rich symbolism—translated oral poetics into a unique visual language that continues to influence filmmakers worldwide.

Mambéty embodied the role of a modern griot, using his art to preserve cultural memory while commenting on contemporary realities. His films serve as a bridge between tradition and innovation, demonstrating how ancient storytelling techniques can find new expression in modern media.

The conversation between oral tradition and visual storytelling that Mambéty initiated continues today, as filmmakers across Africa and beyond draw inspiration from indigenous narrative forms. His work stands as testimony to the enduring power of the griot's voice—a voice that, through his cinema, found new resonance in a visual medium while maintaining its connection to the rhythms and wisdom of oral tradition.

In a world increasingly dominated by Western narrative conventions, Mambéty's griot-inspired approach offers an alternative vision of what cinema can be: not just entertainment or art, but a living archive of cultural memory and a tool for social reflection. Like the griots who inspired him, Mambéty used stories to make sense of a changing world, creating works that entertain while they illuminate, that please the eye while they challenge the mind, and that honor tradition while pointing toward new possibilities.