A griot does more than tell a story - he teaches community history, values and social mores through performances that include music and dance. These shared stories create a clan's sense of cultural identity.

During the Nigerian civil war, traditional learning broke down in some places. Youth who did not know their heritage were vulnerable - if someone was mistaken for belonging to one of the warring factions and could not prove his cultural alignment by naming his ancestral village or speaking in his tribal language, he was often killed.

After witnessing this tragedy, Isi Igetei sought to restore cultural connections by adapting the role of the griot to the theater. With his troupe, he traveled to schools engaging students in traditional lore. Today he uses the skills of the griot to introduce Americans to Nigerian culture. However, his most important storytelling goes on in his Hillside home, where his children learn about where they come from through stories from the generations. They discover their heritage, tracing it back to the man and woman who gave birth to his clan, the Uzairue.