You might have heard of griots, the traditional African storytellers who memorize and pass down oral histories.

But they're much more than just documentarians.

Grios are the living embodiment of memory and culture, keepers of a community's collective identity.

Griot is the English term, and in West Africa, they're known as jellies.

The role is passed down through family lines, generation after generation.

Journalist Elliot Stein explored the tradition of the jellies, tracing it all the way back

to the Mali Empire.

And along the way, he tracked down a modern-day jelly, who was upholding and remixing

the tradition.

And he found him in a pretty unexpected place, working in a convenience store.

I'm Alexa Lim, and this is Atlas Obscira, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

Today I'm talking with Elliot, who's traveled across the world reporting on rare and ancient traditions,

and he talks to the final custodians who are keeping them alive.

He chronicled it all in his book, Custodians of Wonder, ancient customs, profound traditions, and the last people keeping them alive.

Thanks for joining us, Elliot.

Thanks so much for having me.

What sparked your interest in exploring this tradition, this world, more deeply? Yeah, it's a great question. I sort of familiarized myself with a lot of these ancient wonders, and one day, actually one week, I went down a large rabbit hole of all of the UNESCO world

intangible cultural languages. It's kind of the best of what we have is humanity, right? So it's

everything from Argentine tango to Indian yoga, Neapolitan pizza. But there's one tradition

of the 678 that has been kept within a single family, and it's

the only one.

And this is the traditions that I set out to Chronicle, and as you said, it's very, very similar

...