jeliya

J8E1L1I1Y4A1

noun

The traditional music of the jeli (or griot) caste of the Mande people.

OriginBambara jeliya →
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Meanings

nounjeliya (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe traditional music of the jeli (or griot) caste of the Mande people.

    In the absence of Bamana music on the scene in Bamako, some foreign scholars even concluded that all jeliya, the music of the Mande jeliw, is essentially heptatonic.

    2013, Lucy Durán, “POYI! Bamana jeli music, Mali and the blues”, in Journal of African Cultural Studies, volume 9, number 25, Routledge, →DOI, →JSTOR, page 231

Origin

  1. Bambarajeliya
  2. Englishjeliya

From Bambara jeliya (literally “being a jeli; 'jeli-ness'”).

More words from Bambara

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

jeliya. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jeliya

MLA

“jeliya.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jeliya. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jeliya,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jeliya.

Source: jeliya on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.