Salam Diallo

Tassu (also written tassou or taasu) is a Wolof oral-poetry and praise-speaking tradition from Senegal, performed in a heightened, percussive speech that rides the complex polyrhythms of sabar drumming. It is typically led by griottes (gëwël), whose rapid-fire declamation, boasts, genealogies, proverbs, and improvised panegyric function both as social commentary and as a way to honor patrons and community figures. While intrinsically a spoken art, tassu often intersects with singing, ululation, and call-and-response refrains, and has been widely cited as a direct precursor to the cadence, flow, and performative stance of Senegalese hip hop (Rap Galsen) and to vocal interjections inside mbalax.