oral transmission

…cultural preservation relied heavily upon oral transmission and rote memorization of important events, calendrical information, and religious knowledge. Priests and noble elders, who were called conservators, were in charge of education. Since one of the important responsibilities of the conservator was to censor new poems and songs, he took the…

…serve to preserve cultural traditions, oral genealogies, and historical narratives. Praise songs are also part of the griot’s repertoire. The griots of The Gambia, many of whom play the kora, were made famous by Alex Haley’s Roots (1976).

In the early days of civilization, before written records were made, oral traditions were necessarily important. Without the art of writing, reliance must be placed on memory, aided possibly by mnemonic systems like that of knot arrangements used by the…

…to the hazards associated with oral transmission.