FARMINGTON - Sitting quietly and attentively, Mallett school kindergartners listened to a storyteller play the Kora, a West African musical instrument, Thursday in the Art Gallery at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Musician and storyteller Ibrahima Seck from Senegal kept their attention as he told the history of his people through song and dance.

Seck is a Griot, or member of a West African hereditary social class of musicians, oral historians and storytellers who pass their skills on to their descendants. The musicians use the Kora, a 21-stringed, lute-like instrument made from a large gourd covered in cowhide, to accompany their stories, poems, songs and proverbs, as stated in a university release.

Linda Beck, assistant professor of political science at the university, introduced several other musical instruments to the children in Ina Austin's class before they listened to Seck.

Beck has made several trips to West Africa and has been involved with many of the activities that have been part of a yearlong series on Africa at the university.

Seck performed earlier in the day at the Student Center. The event was sponsored by the UMF University Forum and the Diversity Committee.