It's the word of the day for September 10th.
Today's word is grio, spelled G-R-I-O-T.
Grio is a noun.
It refers to any of a class of musician entertainers of Western Africa whose performances include tribal histories and genealogies.
The term is also used broadly to refer to a storyteller.
Here's the word used in a sentence from Pitchfork.
Music is both the subject and mechanism of sinners,
which opens with a voiceover history of how some musicians,
dating back to the West African griots,
have been seen as conduits between this world and the one beyond.
In many West African countries, the role of cultural guardian is maintained,
as it has been for centuries, by griots.
Griot, a borrowing from French, refers to an oral historian,
musician, storyteller, and sometimes praise-singer.
Griots are called by other names as well, jelly or jally in Mandé, or jewel in Walloph, for example.
Griots preserve the genealogies, historical narratives, and oral traditions of their tribes.
Among the instruments traditionally played by griots are two lutes,
the long-necked 21-string Chora and the Kalam, thought by some to be the ancestor of the banjo.
With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.