In Liberia, griots were the master storytellers and custodians of history, held stories of clans, recited genealogies from memory, and carried forward the moral lessons embedded in folktales.

But in a country still healing from decades of civil conflicts and a rapidly digitising world, the griot’s voice faces a new challenge: relevance in the digital age.

A dying art?

Liberia’s oral heritage, passed down from elders to the youth, suffered a rupture during the 14-year civil wars, killing thousands of people and destroying infrastructure.

As families and communities were displaced, the time and structure for evening storytelling vanished. Griots who survived often found themselves voiceless in a world that no longer made space for tradition.

Yet, against the odds, the griot spirit is not extinguished—it is adapting.

Village to virtual

Sekou has over 1300 followers on TikTok, and he has become a sensation for reenacting traditional Liberian folktales, complete with pidgin narration, drum beats, guitar acoustics, and local proverbs.

Sekou’s work is part of a growing wave of young Liberians reclaiming their oral history through podcasts, short films, and social media skits.

Comedy platforms like “Mama Liberia” are also giving space to modern-day storytellers to perform, preserve, and repackage folktales into comical reinterpretations.

Healing through stories

For many communities, storytelling is not just entertainment—it is a form of therapy.

Liberian author Mayonn Paasewe-Valchev, famous for her folklore books, The Leopard Behind the Moon and There Flies the Witch, in interviews says folklore has helped remind Liberians of who they are.

“I wanted my books to help young people who are grieving or going through some kind of loss understand that they are not alone,” Mayonn told the Spirits podcast.

Mayonn holds the belief that stories can bridge the gaps left by formal education or written history. In areas where trauma and loss run deep, tales of ancestral courage and community resilience offer a path toward healing.

NGOs and cultural groups are beginning to recognise this, with meetings arranged to have elders tell folktales to children in the palaver hut, a place the community also uses for conflict resolution.

Challenges ahead

However, challenges persist. Many griots are ageing and dying with the flare of the language and the artistry, raising fears of erosion of some of the local languages. Liberia’s oral tales are often told in indigenous languages—Mande, Kru, Mel—which are slowly fading in urban areas.

For people like Legriot, who has over 12,000 TikTok followers, they are determined to prevent this from happening.

In many of his videos, he uses Griot to engage in modern day conversions that interests young Liberians. On TikTok, he creates dialogues between folklore characters to tackle modern conversations headlining news in the country.

Analysts hope that as Liberia continues to rebuild post-war—its identity—its griots, whether under mango trees or on mobile screens, remain among its most powerful storytellers for generations to come.