List of oral repositories

Oral repositories are people who have been trusted with mentally recording information constituting oral tradition within a society. They serve an important role in oral cultures and illiterate societies as repositories of their culture's traditional knowledge, values, and morals.^[1][2][3][4]

Examples of oral repositories

Five sangomas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Seán Ó hEinirí, seanchaí from Mayo, Ireland

Mandinka jeli Al-Haji Papa Susso performing songs on the kora from the oral tradition of the Gambia

A manaschi performing the Epic of Manas in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan

Roles

People termed as "oral repositories" have been likened to "walking libraries", leading to the saying "whenever an old man dies, it is as though a library were burning down".^[5][6][7] Roles vary, and can be titular, formal or informal, some professional specialists such as the Caucasian ashik, or more commonly amateurs and knowledgeable generalists such as the bulaam of the Kuba people.^{[8]: 36–39}

Types of information held by oral repositories includes lineages, oral law, mythology, oral literature and oral poetry (of which oral history is often entwined), folk songs and aural tradition, and traditional knowledge. In many indigenous societies, such as Native American and San, these roles are fulfilled in a general sense by elders.^[9][10] In some societies anyone could become a generalist or traditionalist regardless of their social class, and acquisition depends solely on individual aptitude, while in others the roles are hereditary and dependent on class or caste.^{[11]: 192–193}

These people usually hold authority within their respective societies, although musicians sometimes constitute a low caste/class. They can be religious figures playing roles in rituals and ceremonies.^[12] With regard to narrative traditions, they usually perform from their repertoire and apply their distinct style while innovating on a well-known tale or work, seeking to create an experience by leading, involving, and responding to the audience.^[8]: 34 Some participate in improvised poetry competitions such as the Central Asian aytysh, the North African Kabyle people's amusnaw, the Spanish repentismo [es], or the African Ewe people's halo.^[13][14] In parts of the world they remain as custodians of culture despite rising literacy rates.^[15]

Africa

Term	Type/s of information	Society/ies	Period	Sources
Abacurabwenge	Genealogy	Rwandan		[16][17]
Abasizi	Poetry/panegyrics	Rwandan		[16][17]
Abateekerezi	Royal memoirs	Rwandan		[16][17]
Abiru	Code of kingship	Rwandan		[16][17]
Akewi	Poetry, eg. oríkì	Yoruba	To present	[18][19]
Akomfo	Religious lore	Akan	To present	[20][21]
Arókin (griot)	General	Yoruba	To present	[22]
Amdyaz	Poetry	Berber	To present	[23][24]
Amusnaw	General, eg. asefru	Kabyle		[25]
Anechchad	Songs	Berber	To present	[26]
Azmari	Poetry and songs	Amharic		[27]
Babalawo	Religious lore	Yoruba	To present	[28]
Bambudye/Mbudye	General	Luba	To present	[29]
Bulaam	History, literature, and poetry	Kuba	To present	[30]: 17
Debtera	Religious lore	Ethiopian and Eritrean		[31][32]
Gawlo (griot)	General	Fula and Toucouleur	To present	[33]
Gesere/Jaare (griot)	General	Soninke	To present	[34][35]
Géwël (griot)	General	Wolof and Serer	To present	[36]
Halaiqui	Literature	Moroccan	To present	[37][38]
Iggiw/Ighyuwn/Iggawen (griot)	General	Hassaniya	To present	[39]
Imbongi	Poetry	Southern African, eg. Xhosa and Zulu	To present	[40]
Jèli/Jali	General	Mandinka, Dyula, Mossi, and Bambara	To present	[41]
Hogon	Religious lore	Dogon	To present	[42]
Maalem	Songs, religious lore	Moroccan	To present	[43]
Mahosi [ve]	General	Venda	To present	[44]
Maroka (griot)	General	Hausa	To present	[45]
Mbomo mvet	Songs and literature	Fang	To present	[46][47]
Mganga	Religious lore	Swahili		[48]
Mmoki	Poetry	Tswana	To present	[49]
Moaridi	History	Kuba		[50]
Moreti	Poetry	Bapedi	To present	[51]
Mpikabary	Public speaking	Merina	To present	[52]
Mukhodi	Poetry	Venda	To present	[53]
Muphati	Poetry	Tsonga	To present	[54]
N'anga	Religious lore	Shona	To present	[55]
Nganga	Religious lore	Kongo	To present	[56]
Oday	General, law	Somali	To present	[57]
Ogbu Avu	General	Igbo	To present	[58][59]
Okyeame	General	Akan		[60]
Omwevugi	General, eg poetry	Banyankore and Bahima	To present	[61]
Sangoma	Religious lore, general	Nguni, Sotho, and Tsonga	To present	[62]
Sarungano	Literature	Shona	To present	[63]
Seroki	Poetry, genealogies	Sotho	To present	[64]
Svikiro	Religious knowledge	Shona		[65]
Ughoro	General	Edo		[66]
Ugogo	Literature (ntsomi or izinganekwane [zu])	Xhosa and Zulu	To present	[67]

Asia

Term	Type/s of information	Society/ies	Period	Sources
Aqyn	Poetry and songs	Kazakh and Kyrgyz		[68]
Ashik/Ashugh	Poetry and songs	Azerbaijani, Turkish, Georgian, and Armenian		[69][70][71]
Babaylan	Religious lore	Filipino	Until 20th century	[72]
Bagshy	Literature	Turkmen	To present	[73]
Baxshi [uz]	Poetry	Uzbek	To present	[74]
Bhanaka	Religious texts	Asian (Buddhist)	Until 1st century BCE	[75]
Bhāts	Genealogy, sometimes poetry and storytelling	Indian		[76]
Bobohizan	Religious knowledge	Kadazan-Dusun (Malay)	To present	[77]
Bomoh	Religious knowledge	Malay and Sumatran	To present	[78]
Charan	General, eg. Rajasthani and Gujarati literature	Rajasthani, Gujurati, Baloch, and Sindhi		[79][80]
Dalang	Literature	Indonesian	To present[81]
Dastango	Literature	Pakistani	Until 20th century (revived)	[82]
Dengbêj	Literature and songs	Kurdish		[83]
Dukun	Religious knowledge	Malay and Indonesian	To present	[84]
Gayen/Gain	Poetry	Bengali		[85][86]
Gusans	Poetry	Armenian		[87][88]
Hakawati	Literature	Arab	To present	[89]
Kamishibaiya	Literature	Japanese	To present	[90]
Kathakar	Literature	Indian	To present	[91]
Maggid	Religious lore, literature	Jewish		[92]
Manaschi	Literature	Kyrgyz	To present	[93]
Manganiar	Songs and music	Rajasthani (Indian)	To present	[94][95]
Meddah	Literature	Turkish	Until 20th century	[96]
Mo phi	Religious knowledge	Thai		[97]
Naqqal	Literature	Iranian	To present	[98]
Pawang	Religious knowledge	Malay and Indonesian	To present	[99]
Qawwāl	Religious songs	Asian (Sufi)	To present	[100]
Rāwī	Poetry, literature, and religious texts	Arabic	Until 8th century CE	[101]
Sėsėn	Literature	Bashkir	To present	[102]
Sorikkun	Pansori	Korean		[103]
Tuulchi	Literature	Mongolian	To present	[104]
Wu	Religious lore	Chinese	Until ?	[105]
Zajjalin	Poetry	Andalusian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, Jordanian, Moroccan, and Algerian	To present	[106]
Zhyrau	Poetry, eg. Kazakh literature	Turkic, eg. Kazakh	To present	[107][108]

Europe

Term	Type/s of information	Society/ies	Period	Sources
Aoidos	Poetry and songs	Ancient Greek	Until ?	[109]
Aois-dàna	Genealogy	Scottish Highlander	Until 17th century	[110]
Bard	General	Scottish, Irish, and Welsh	Until ?	[111]
Bertsolaris	Poetry	Basque	To present	[112]
Cuntisti	Literature	Sicilian (Italian)		[113][114]
Druid	Religious lore	Celtic	Until ?	[115]
Drut'syla	Literature	Jewish	To present	[116]
Dziady	Songs	Slavic eg. Polish		[117]
Filí	Poetry	Irish and Scottish	Until 15th century	[118]
Fulesta [it]	Literature	Romagnol (Italian)	To present?	[119]
Kobzar	Songs	Ukrainian	Until 20th century (revived)	.[120][121]
Lahutar	Poetry	Albanian		[122]
Lăutari	Songs	Romanian and Romani	To present	[123]
Lirnyk	Literature and songs	Ukrainian	Until 20th century	[124]
Klezmer	Songs	Jewish		[125]
Makar	General	Scottish		[126]
Minstrel	Songs	European	Until 19th century	[127]
Ollam	General	Irish	Until ?	[128]
Piitárides	Songs	Cypriot		[129]
Rhapsode	Poetry	Ancient Greek	Until ?	[130]
Rimadóri	Songs	Cretan (Greek)		[129]
Seanchai	Literature and history	Irish, Manx, and Scottish Highlander	To present	[131]
Scop	Poetry	English	Until ?	[132]
Skald	Poetry	Scandinavian	Until 16th century	[133]
Skomorokh	Songs	Russian	Until 18th century	[134]
Spelman	Songs	Swedish		[135]
Spielmann	Songs	German		[136]
Thyle	General	Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon	Until 7th century	[137][138]
Tietäjä	General, Poetry	Finnish	Until 20th century	[139]

North America

Term	Type/s of information	Society/ies	Period	Sources
Calypsonian	Songs	Trinidadian		[140]
Iyalawo	Religious knowledge	Afro-Cuban	To present	[141]
Medicine man	Religious knowledge	Native American	To present	[142]
North American Indigenous elder	General	North American Indigenous	To present	[143]
Oungan and Manbo	Religious lore	Afro-Haitian	To present	[144][145]
Paleros	Religious lore	Afro-Cuban		[146]

South America

Term	Type/s of information	Society/ies	Period	Sources
Amauta	General	Incan	Until ?	[147]
Yatiri	Religious knowledge	Aymara	To present	[148]

Oceania

Term	Type/s of information	Society/ies	Period	Sources
Australian Aboriginal elder	General	Australian Aboriginal	To present	[149][150]
Fāgogo	Literature	Samoan	To present	[151]
Ha'atufunga	Royal rituals	Tongan	To present	[152][153]
Haku mo'olelo	Literature	Hawaiian		[154]
Kahuna	Religious lore	Polynesian, eg. Hawaiian		[155]
Mea hula	Literature	Hawaiian	To present	[156]
Tulafale	General	Samoan	To present	[157]
Wānanga	General	Māori	To present	[158]

See also

• Troubador - Occitan poet, until the 14th century
• Shadow play
• Rakugoka - Japanese performer of verbal comedy
• Bharatanatyam - Tamil traditional dance and literature
• Katha (storytelling format) - Indian religious storytelling