griot apparel. brought to you live and direct by
dropout postgrad and julia cocuzza. unofficial since 4'20'06.

GRIOT APPAREL'S ONLINE SHOP IS OPEN!
brand new and classic designs for men & women available now
$19 early adopter discount until 12/9!
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Griots keep people's history alive through talking about it. Designers of Griot Apparel believe in mixing the oral element of the West African traditions with the skepticism of modern European traditions. Designs are intended to catalyze curiousity, stimulate conversations, instigate oral challenges and incite others to ask questions. If what we care to discover is the truth, then memorization alone isn't going to be how we find it. We will find it by examining and discussing the stories we are told to memorize. Through dialogue and collaboration, we create new ways of thinking. We learn as we go and share lessons we learn along the way. The goal is to implore others to ask questions, to pass on their insights and provoke cultural engagement.

Our original designs are about cultural and historical subjects and expanding awareness of them. The styles are heavy with intellectual, moral, and satirical references. Some of our designs are about artists or musicians who we have admired or who inspire ambition in us. Some incorporate figures from politics (which is the art and practice of power) with aesthetic sensibilities of various musical movements. Many are about persons whose memory we attempt to maintain to humble ourselves and to help remind of the horrors and inhumanity which misdirected ambitions make us capable of perpetuating. We are not just looking to the heights of humanity, we are looking to examine the depths as well. Investigation usually leaves us with wry grins on our faces and subtly pointing our middle fingers at the man.

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Because the word 'griot' is foreign to many, it is a good place to start in acquainting new arrivals to this collective consciousness. The word is French with Portuguese origins. It emerged after different European groups found the need to categorize different people they encountered as they sought to conquer West Africa. They had to expand their language as a result.

The originating Portuguese word "criado" translates as "servant" and found a new sense in Africa when it began to be used to describe members of the castes of poetic praise-singing musicians who memorize and maintain narratives which relay African histories. The griots serve the people of Africa as stewards of their mutual stories. Today, griots live in various countries across West Africa--including Guinea, Gambia, Mali, and Senegal. Different words exist for griots in Mande, Wolof, Pulaar, and Hassaniyya Arabic, but we use this specific word because the etymology of the word "griot" embodies a criticallity of itself and a history of cultural encounters.

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