Djeli (known as "griots" in French) are praise-singers who have a special place in Burkinabè society. Djeli are called upon to recite from memory the names and accomplishments of all the past emperors or chiefs, at each successive ruler’s funeral. Traditionally djeli also intervene in some family disputes. For example, if a couple’s parents are opposed to them marrying they might run away from home. The djeli might visit the father and praise him for his wisdom and ask for forgiveness. Then the djeli goes to the young man to praise him. In this way, the djeli acts as a go-between so that the families can forgive the couple and they can return home. Nowadays, djeli are likely to be heard at social gatherings. They may play modern instruments, including the electric guitar, as well as more traditional ones.

Traditional music is played in cabarets (bars which serves millet beer from polished gourds).

Youssouf Kienou is lead singer and guitarist with the band Djiliya. He sings in Dioula which is Burkina Faso's second most common language after Mooré, which is spoken by the Mossi. Djiliya’s other members play the kora, (a harp-stringed instrument with a large calabash sound-box), the djembé (a goblet shaped hand drum which can be played when standing, sitting, or squatting), the tama (a small two-ended drum squeezed under the arm to produce a variable pitch), the ngoni (the three stringed local lute), a wooden flute, and the balafon (a wooden xylophone with gourd resonators). He explains the tradition of praise-singing and some of his experiences of his work:

"I was born in the south-west, in a family of praise-singers. I’ve heard this music since I was a baby. My father, Baba Kienou, is chief of the praise-singers of Burkina Faso. The guitar is new, but all the other instruments are traditional among praise-singers. The tama and the ngoni are the oldest - it’s with the ngoni that the praise-singer would go to the chief to sing the praises of his family. The tama and the ngoni are for song, for listening. The kora makes people dance. The kora, the balafon and the djembé came into use later.

"Today there are a lot of changes in the lives of praise-singers. Though we still have chiefs and kings, they are not as they used to be, so we don’t have praise-singing in the old way. My father stopped most of his work, not because he had forgotten the praises he should sing, but because his clients had died. He stopped in 1987. He’s old now.

"If someone dies you praise the corpse. In 1992 I sang the praises of an old woman. She was the oldest in her village, almost 100 years old, with white hair and no teeth. She walked with a stick, but when praise-singers visited, she would still dance. We grew up around her, and she told us stories about her youth.

"The day she died, the grandsons came to tell us. We took our instruments and started praising, and played the music, including the drums. Then we saw the old woman’s body move and we stopped. I was afraid. But her friends said ‘No, continue. She’s happy, that’s why she moves’. We accompanied her body from Ouagadougou to her home village, 120 kilometres away. The praise-singers must do that.

"In Djiliya, our music derives from our praise-singing. That’s our inspiration, when we play, and when we make new songs. I don’t feel that I’ve left praise-singing behind, just that I use it differently, for a new audience. This music is my life, my past, and my future. I couldn’t live without it. It’s in my family. I’ll teach all these things to my daughter, as she grows up. Then what she does will be up to her."