# data[].attributes.body
African baskets are usually made of different materials like grass, vines, leaves, raffia, papyrus etc. The techniques used are often quite complex and are similar to the methods used in textile weaving. They are used for a variety of different purposes ranging from women carrying harvested crops from the fields, food from the market, goods for sale and also for storage.
African pottery is not only a generally widespread craft but at the same time an important field of artistic expression still present in the life of the peoples of West Africa. Traditional pottery continues to have an important role in both rural and urban areas where, despite contemporary, industrially designed containers, vessels and other clay utensils, produced in the same way over several thousand years, are made.

# data[].attributes.body
African textiles are stamped fabrics, story fabrics, and a particularly colorful kind called kente. They would  create stamped fabric by drawing a grid on a piece of cloth, using a thick dye.

# data[].attributes.body
West Africans of all different times used religious sculptures to call the spirits to help them all phases of life. They also used sculptures to honor their leaders.

# data[].attributes.body
Wooden masks have been a part of West African life for centuries. Masks are worn in ceremonies and special occasions.  West African masks are detailed and expressive, they have inspired a number of artists around the world.

# data[].attributes.body
In West Africa, dance is as much a part of life as singing and drumming are. West Africans perform dances for occasions including rituals and ceremonies that remember important events in people's lives.

# data[].attributes.body
Drums have a large role in West African culture. West African drums are made of hollowed-out logs or pieces of wood. Drummers in West Africa play in groups, which include different types of drums, along with bells and rattles. West African slaves brought their drumming traditions to the Americas.

# data[].attributes.body
In a common West African style of music known as call-and-response, a leader plays or sings a short phrase referred to as a call. A group of people would then sing the chorus, answer by playing or singing a short phrase, the response.  Traditional musical instruments in West Africa include three that griots have used for centuries. They are called the balafon, the ngoni, and the kora. The balafon probably was the original griot instrument it had wooden bars laid across a frame in which it's struck with a hammer or mallet. The ngoni is a small stringed instrument carved in a shape similar to a canoe. The instrument's strings are made of thin fishing line.The kora is a harplike instrument with 21 strings. The kora's strings, like those of the ngoni, are made of fishing line.

# data[].attributes.body
After Islam spread to West Africa, written tradition became more important. Muslims published many works in Arabic.

# data[].attributes.body
The Sundiata Keita or Epic of Sundiata is an epic poem of the Malinke people and tells the story of the hero Sundiata Keita.

# data[].attributes.body
West African oral tradition includes proverbs, or popular sayings. Proverbs use everyday images  to express ideas or give advice. One proverb illustrates how Africans valued their stories. The proverb states, “A good story is like a garden carried in the pocket.” Another explains the importance of oral tradition. “Every time an old man dies,” the proverb says, “it is as if a library has burnt down.”

# data[].attributes.body
Many of the West African people passed stories of history and things about their ancestors.

# data[].attributes.body
A griot  is a verbal artist of the Mande people. They tell stories in songs and while playing a drum or a stringed instrument.