1
00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,156
(Drumming and chanting)

2
00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:15,631
<i>West Africa, just south of the Sahara,</i>

3
00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:19,235
<i>150 miles from Timbuktu on the Niger river.</i>

4
00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:24,155
<i>A wilderness of scrub,</i>
<i>parched sand and roasting rocks.</i>

5
00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,990
<i>Sandstone cliffs run in lines</i>
<i>for a hundred miles,</i>

6
00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,914
<i>and huddled at their foot,</i>
<i>the villages of the Dogon people.</i>

7
00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,156
(Speaking Dogon)

8
00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,440
<i>"A blessing on your morning."</i>
<i>"And on yours."</i>

9
00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:38,476
<i>"How is your health?"</i>
<i>"It is well."</i>

10
00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:40,790
<i>"How is your family?"</i>
<i>"They are well."</i>

11
00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,555
<i>The more important the man,</i>
<i>the longer the greeting demanded by ritual.</i>

12
00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:46,596
(All exchanging greetings)

13
00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,195
<i>After long wars with people</i>
<i>in the more fertile lands to the south,</i>

14
00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,510
<i>the Dogon found refuge here.</i>

15
00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:06,957
<i>No one now disputes with them</i>
<i>for this parched, harsh country.</i>

16
00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:12,318
<i>And neither Islam, Christianity</i>
<i>nor any other alien creed</i>

17
00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:17,349
<i>has yet succeeded in totally extinguishing</i>
<i>the intricate beliefs that the Dogon hold</i>

18
00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:22,434
<i>about the nature of their universe and</i>
<i>the powers that determine their destinies.</i>

19
00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:27,436
(Speaking Dogon)

20
00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:37,471
<i>An old man draws symbols in the sand,</i>
<i>rendering them magical by chants.</i>

21
00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:02,870
<i>Each symbol represents a place,</i>
<i>a person, a proposition.</i>

22
00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:06,430
<i>During the night yurugu,</i>
<i>the little white desert fox</i>

23
00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:11,913
<i>will scamper across the plot</i>
<i>attracted by grains of bait scattered over it.</i>

24
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,755
<i>His footprints will obliterate</i>
<i>this symbol, miss that one.</i>

25
00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:19,798
<i>And from such signs</i>
<i>the future can be divined,</i>

26
00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,190
<i>provided the patterns have been drawn</i>
<i>by a wise man</i>

27
00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:25,669
<i>who understands the ways of the gods.</i>

28
00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:42,036
<i>The fronts of the houses belonging to</i>
<i>great families are pierced with niches,</i>

29
00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:44,634
<i>each a receptacle for special offerings.</i>

30
00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,553
<i>Magically powerful sites</i>
<i>are marked with mounds.</i>

31
00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:51,030
<i>Each quarter of the village</i>
<i>has its own shrine.</i>

32
00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:56,035
<i>And all such places must be nourished</i>
<i>with millet gruel and blood.</i>

33
00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,392
But although the West may have had
little influence on this village,

34
00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:14,756
the people who live here
and in similar remote corners of Africa

35
00:05:14,840 --> 00:05:17,718
have a had a strange impact on the West.

36
00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:22,510
For sculptures that have come from them
and other places in the remote parts of Africa

37
00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:27,276
have profoundly changed the ways that
the artists of the west have seen the world.

38
00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:33,752
<i>Tribal carvings have been finding their way</i>
<i>to the markets of Europe for centuries,</i>

39
00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:39,312
<i>and Europe had dismissed them</i>
<i>as no more than bizarre curios.</i>

40
00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:44,110
<i>In 1900, few people in Paris,</i>
<i>then the artistic capital of the world,</i>

41
00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,272
<i>would have said that such things</i>
<i>had anything to do with art,</i>

42
00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:50,238
<i>with the elegant pictures</i>
<i>being painted there</i>

43
00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:53,630
<i>by men who delighted in capturing</i>
<i>vivid impressions</i>

44
00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:55,870
<i>of the appearance of the world around them.</i>

45
00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:12,358
<i>But a group of young artists</i>
<i>were about to start a revolution.</i>

46
00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:15,192
<i>Picasso was among them.</i>

47
00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:18,636
<i>He hung those curios on the wall of his studio</i>

48
00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,508
<i>and they struck new, jarring notes</i>
<i>in his pictures.</i>

49
00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,155
<i>Georges Braque, the cubist painter,</i>
<i>declared that African sculpture</i>

50
00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:34,038
<i>had opened totally new horizons for him.</i>

51
00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:39,319
<i>This stark white painted mask,</i>
<i>hanging in his studio in 1911,</i>

52
00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,756
<i>had been carved</i>
<i>in the densest forests of Central Africa.</i>

53
00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:46,150
<i>Today it still hangs in the Paris apartment,</i>

54
00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:50,518
<i>a fuse that once helped detonate</i>
<i>an artistic explosion.</i>

55
00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:56,712
<i>Around it stand more tribal carvings.</i>

56
00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,869
<i>And among them, other sculptures,</i>
<i>ceramics and paintings</i>

57
00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:07,158
<i>that were created by Europeans hands</i>
<i>and minds in Paris</i>

58
00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:09,549
<i>but which contain echoes of Africa.</i>

59
00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:13,997
<i>Echoes that have reverberated</i>
<i>throughout Europe, from that time onwards.</i>

60
00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:10,831
<i>0bjects like these</i>
<i>cracked an ancient and powerful tradition.</i>

61
00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:15,277
<i>For 2,000 years, civilised Europe</i>
<i>had carved and painted</i>

62
00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,591
<i>in ways that harked back</i>
<i>to the naturalistic styles</i>

63
00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:20,398
<i>of the Greeks and Romans.</i>

64
00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:25,998
<i>But here were the sculptures that tried</i>
<i>to portray not the outer surface of things,</i>

65
00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:28,150
<i>but their central reality.</i>

66
00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,437
<i>Not the visible, but the unseen.</i>

67
00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:33,397
(Tribal drumming)

68
00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:31,277
<i>The sculptures made by the Dogon</i>
<i>can hold their place with any from all Africa.</i>

69
00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:33,669
<i>0ften they represent gods,</i>

70
00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,833
<i>the ancient beings from whom</i>
<i>all Dogon people are descended.</i>

71
00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:57,597
<i>The splendour and variety of Dogon carvings</i>
<i>have made them highly prized by outsiders.</i>

72
00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:02,231
<i>And now, 70 years after a few artists in Paris</i>
<i>opened our eyes</i>

73
00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:04,356
<i>to the quality of African carving,</i>

74
00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:06,396
<i>they're being treasured by the West</i>

75
00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:10,792
<i>with as much veneration</i>
<i>as the work of the West's own artists.</i>

76
00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:16,996
<i>This is Dallas, Texas.</i>

77
00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:19,594
<i>And the opening</i>
<i>in the museum of a whole exhibition</i>

78
00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:23,912
<i>devoted exclusively</i>
<i>to the sculpture of this one tribe.</i>

79
00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:28,118
<i>It's surely something of a paradox</i>
<i>that one of the world's richest cities,</i>

80
00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:30,839
<i>dedicated to the glorification of wealth,</i>

81
00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:33,115
<i>should give such reverential treatment</i>

82
00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:37,159
<i>to the art of a people</i>
<i>who, in terms of material possessions,</i>

83
00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:39,754
<i>must be among the world's poorest.</i>

84
00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:54,313
<i>The Dogon themselves</i>
<i>do not put their sculptures on display.</i>

85
00:10:54,400 --> 00:11:00,350
<i>These statues are private, secret objects,</i>
<i>the dwelling places of the spirits of the dead.</i>

86
00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,750
<i>Those belonging to a family</i>
<i>are given their tributes</i>

87
00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:06,434
<i>in quiet, enclosed courtyards.</i>

88
00:11:07,680 --> 00:11:10,990
<i>Those which hold within them</i>
<i>the fortunes of the entire village</i>

89
00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:15,756
<i>are so precious that they are guarded</i>
<i>by the Hogon, the village priest.</i>

90
00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:22,991
<i>He keeps them hidden away within the alleys</i>
<i>and courtyards of his own house.</i>

91
00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:27,551
<i>Though the villagers know that he has them,</i>
<i>few know just where they're stored.</i>

92
00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:32,031
<i>And the only people who may see them</i>
<i>are one or two fully initiated elders</i>

93
00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:35,476
<i>and those who must tend them</i>
<i>with sacrifices.</i>

94
00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:06,918
<i>Some of the most ancient and sacred objects</i>
<i>are so coated with decades of libations,</i>

95
00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,468
<i>that their original shape is lost.</i>

96
00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:13,394
<i>They are so precious that they have to be</i>
<i>brought from special hiding places</i>

97
00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:15,994
<i>known to no one at all but the priest,</i>

98
00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:20,596
<i>and placed in the sanctuary with the rest of the</i>
<i>carvings, in order to receive their tribute.</i>

99
00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:32,395
(Speaking softly)

100
00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:53,196
(Plucks strings)

101
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:56,956
(Singing softly)

102
00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:02,354
<i>First, millet gruel.</i>

103
00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:05,238
(Chanting)

104
00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,790
<i>"Forgive us, excuse us, unto mulong,</i>

105
00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:15,158
<i>"yunom, melakum, kolowai</i>
<i>all you spirits of the bush. "

106
00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:29,913
<i>"Forgive us you spirits of Bongo, our village.</i>

107
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:34,391
<i>"Forgive us you spirits of Ireli and Tirelli,</i>
<i>of Kundu and Sanga,</i>

108
00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:38,359
<i>"of Kani and Kamba,</i>
<i>of all the villages of our country. "

109
00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:40,396
(Singing)

110
00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,715
<i>The first Hogon came from heaven,</i>
<i>the realm of the sun.</i>

111
00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:50,190
<i>When he descended to earth,</i>
<i>he had feet of fire.</i>

112
00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:55,434
<i>So hot were they that he had iron sandals</i>
<i>to prevent his footsteps</i>

113
00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:59,274
<i>searing the ground</i>
<i>and making it forever sterile.</i>

114
00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:03,319
<i>Even today, a Hogon must not walk</i>
<i>outside of his village</i>

115
00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:07,109
<i>lest his supernatural powers</i>
<i>scorch the fields.</i>

116
00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:12,032
<i>After the sacrifice the whole household</i>
<i>must eat the flesh</i>

117
00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:13,678
<i>of the slaughtered animals.</i>

118
00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:17,799
<i>Each person has a particular part</i>
<i>of the animal that is due to him.</i>

119
00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:21,759
<i>A wing, a jaw, a shoulder, a leg.</i>

120
00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,394
<i>The liver must go to the images.</i>

121
00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:49,556
(Speaking Dogon)

122
00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:02,236
<i>It is little wonder that the Dogon pay so much</i>
<i>attention to safeguarding their future.</i>

123
00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:05,517
<i>For they live perilously close to disaster.</i>

124
00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:09,559
<i>Their land is poor,</i>
<i>little game browses over these hot sands,</i>

125
00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,996
<i>only an occasional solitary antelope.</i>

126
00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:17,039
<i>During the dry season,</i>
<i>water has to be carried for miles from wells</i>

127
00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:21,636
<i>in order to irrigate a few small plots</i>
<i>in the near sterile ground.</i>

128
00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:26,748
<i>And if the rains fail, the wells may run dry</i>
<i>and hundreds may perish.</i>

129
00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:39,634
<i>Many of their most ancient statues</i>
<i>have their hands raised to the sky.</i>

130
00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:41,915
<i>A prayer, the people say, for rain.</i>

131
00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:07,197
<i>When rain does come, it fills pools in one</i>
<i>or two hallows in the rocks.</i>

132
00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:11,068
<i>Pools that with luck</i>
<i>may last almost the entire year,</i>

133
00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:13,549
<i>growing greener and thicker with scum</i>

134
00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,359
<i>but full of life... giving water none the less.</i>

135
00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:18,396
(Speaking Dogon)

136
00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,834
<i>In these fields these days,</i>
<i>the people cultivate onions,</i>

137
00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,832
<i>the one crop which they can grow</i>
<i>in greater quantities</i>

138
00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:37,911
<i>than they need for their own use.</i>

139
00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:46,797
<i>In February and March, before the heat</i>
<i>of the dry season shrivels everything,</i>

140
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,350
<i>the onions are harvested</i>
<i>and pounded to pulp.</i>

141
00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:14,197
<i>Dogon onions are traded</i>
<i>all over this part of West Africa</i>

142
00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:18,717
<i>and bring back to the Dogon the few things</i>
<i>they need from the outside world.</i>

143
00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:22,475
<i>And day after day,</i>
<i>women mould the mush into balls</i>

144
00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:27,714
<i>and leave them to dry in the sun</i>
<i>and spread their smell over the countryside.</i>

145
00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:35,309
<i>Their other crop is millet,</i>
<i>but they seldom have an excess of that</i>

146
00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,960
<i>and every grain is carefully garnered.</i>

147
00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:43,433
<i>It's their basic food, and every household has</i>
<i>at least one granary in which to store it.</i>

148
00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:49,231
<i>It's by the size and number of his granaries</i>
<i>that you can judge a man's wealth.</i>

149
00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,835
<i>This wooden door is decorated</i>
<i>with a few scratched lines.</i>

150
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:58,870
<i>But in the past, granary doors were the most</i>
<i>richly decorated objects in the whole village.</i>

151
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:00,552
<i>0n them appeared once again,</i>

152
00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:04,269
<i>the ancestors beseeching rain</i>
<i>with upraised arms,</i>

153
00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:08,990
<i>so that the millet may continue to grow</i>
<i>and the granary never empty.</i>

154
00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:15,357
<i>Such doors can only be made by one man,</i>
<i>a man different from all others.</i>

155
00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:19,956
<i>Alone in the village,</i>
<i>he is forbidden to own land or to work it.</i>

156
00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:24,318
<i>He is an intermediary between ordinary folk</i>
<i>and the gods...</i>

157
00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:25,753
<i>the blacksmith.</i>

158
00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:30,470
<i>A direct descendant of an ancestor</i>
<i>who stole a piece of the sun from heaven</i>

159
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:36,157
<i>and brought it, a lump of glowing molten iron,</i>
<i>down the rainbow to the earth.</i>

160
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:54,109
<i>Men come to this magician</i>
<i>for their tools and weapons.</i>

161
00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,192
<i>The priest comes to him for iron images.</i>

162
00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:00,397
<i>For only the smith</i>
<i>is permitted to make such things.</i>

163
00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:06,919
<i>Air in the bellows belongs to the living.</i>

164
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,596
<i>Iron comes from below the earth,</i>
<i>the realm of the dead.</i>

165
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:16,392
<i>By bringing the two together,</i>
<i>the blacksmith, with his special magic,</i>

166
00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,870
<i>forges a link between</i>
<i>the worlds of men and spirits.</i>

167
00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:38,908
<i>The son of a blacksmith</i>
<i>may marry only a blacksmith's daughter,</i>

168
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:43,039
<i>for the line of descent from</i>
<i>the ancestral blacksmith must be kept pure</i>

169
00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:46,078
<i>and the knowledge handed down</i>
<i>only from father to son.</i>

170
00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:03,436
(Speaking Dogon)

171
00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:15,479
<i>"My thanks to you, a blessing on your work,</i>
<i>a blessing on your son.</i>

172
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,711
<i>"May Ama the creator bless all in this village."</i>

173
00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,789
<i>Young children know little</i>
<i>of the mysteries of the Dogon universe.</i>

174
00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:33,396
<i>Their first important confrontation</i>
<i>will come when they are circumcised.</i>

175
00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:38,713
<i>And for that ceremony, they must prepare</i>
<i>themselves by learning the initiation songs.</i>

176
00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:41,716
(Boys singing)

177
00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:35,635
<i>The ceremony is performed in a sacred cave,</i>
<i>high in the cliffs above the village.</i>

178
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:39,269
<i>Here the boys will also learn</i>
<i>the mythological secrets</i>

179
00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:43,956
<i>which will govern their adult lives,</i>
<i>and be shown painted symbols,</i>

180
00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:48,079
<i>formulae for the wisdom</i>
<i>that has to be passed on to them.</i>

181
00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:25,997
<i>Here and there are symbols of the new world,</i>
<i>a motorcar.</i>

182
00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:29,789
<i>But most of the designs</i>
<i>are ancient traditional ones</i>

183
00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:34,396
<i>related to images that the boys have seen</i>
<i>around them throughout their childhood,</i>

184
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,836
<i>in the natural world, in their village.</i>

185
00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:42,516
<i>They are hieroglyphs, the meaning of which</i>
<i>is burnt into the children's minds,</i>

186
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,990
<i>as they endure their ordeal beneath them.</i>

187
00:22:58,480 --> 00:22:59,993
(Drumming)

188
00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:12,554
<i>0nce they have passed through initiation,</i>
<i>the boys have joined the Awa,</i>

189
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:14,756
<i>the society of masks.</i>

190
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,354
(Whooping)

191
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,151
<i>The members of the Awa</i>
<i>speak a secret language.</i>

192
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:35,358
<i>They gain wisdom as they progress</i>
<i>through the great cycle of ceremonials</i>

193
00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,750
<i>that takes 60 years to come to its climax.</i>

194
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:44,392
<i>It is they who bring down the sacred masks</i>
<i>out of hiding to dance before everybody</i>

195
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,995
<i>in the festivals that mark</i>
<i>the important events in the village.</i>

196
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:04,152
(Screeching)

197
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,957
<i>Every part of the earth</i>
<i>on which the village stands</i>

198
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:45,156
<i>is steeped in significance.</i>

199
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,232
<i>There are corners where no stranger may tread.</i>

200
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:51,039
<i>Strips of rock which are magically dangerous,</i>

201
00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:55,318
<i>and one place in particular to which</i>
<i>the masks must pay special homage,</i>

202
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:59,837
<i>for there stands an iron image,</i>
<i>decked with cowry shells.</i>

203
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,870
<i>A cowry shell is buried</i>
<i>at the foot of a baobab tree,</i>

204
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:46,159
<i>an offering to the spirit of the tree for</i>
<i>it's about to be robbed of one of its branches.</i>

205
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,548
(Speaking Dogon)

206
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,796
<i>The blacksmith has been commissioned</i>
<i>to carve a mask.</i>

207
00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:01,158
<i>With him has come the head of mask society,</i>
<i>the master of masks.</i>

208
00:27:08,360 --> 00:27:12,512
<i>The swollen branches of the baobab</i>
<i>contain a lot of wood.</i>

209
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:16,036
<i>And another smith from a neighbouring hamlet</i>
<i>is also in need of some.</i>

210
00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:28,229
<i>Climbing a baobab can be a painful business</i>
<i>for its trunk is studded with ferocious spines.</i>

211
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,678
<i>People are not free to wear masks</i>
<i>just as they like.</i>

212
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,832
<i>They may only be owned</i>
<i>by the members of the Awa</i>

213
00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:01,675
<i>and the right to a particular kind of mask</i>
<i>can only be given by the master of masks.</i>

214
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:06,072
<i>He is responsible for ensuring</i>
<i>that protocol is strictly observed.</i>

215
00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:08,913
<i>That no one wears a mask</i>
<i>to which he's not entitled.</i>

216
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:13,430
<i>Nor may anyone make any mask.</i>

217
00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:17,149
<i>Most masks and images</i>
<i>can be made only by the blacksmith.</i>

218
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,516
<i>0nly he has the skill or the prerogative.</i>

219
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,434
<i>So after a man has been given</i>
<i>the master's permission to wear a mask,</i>

220
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:26,875
<i>he must commission the smith to make it.</i>

221
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:39,235
<i>The visiting blacksmith</i>
<i>is not making a mask but a statue.</i>

222
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:44,110
<i>Its shape is already clear in his mind's eye,</i>
<i>lying inside the wood.</i>

223
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:48,352
<i>And he can mark it out roughly</i>
<i>so that unnecessary and heavy wood</i>

224
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,876
<i>can be cut away</i>
<i>before carrying the log back to the village.</i>

225
00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:06,233
(Speaking Dogon)

226
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,950
<i>The master of masks supervises all stages.</i>

227
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:17,917
<i>The work must be done in secret,</i>

228
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:21,276
<i>for no woman or child</i>
<i>may see a mask or a statue</i>

229
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:23,874
<i>until it's brought out at the proper time.</i>

230
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:29,273
<i>So the work is done not in the village itself</i>
<i>but among the rocks just outside.</i>

231
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:39,559
<i>0nly a few yards away,</i>
<i>women are passing on their way to the village.</i>

232
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:41,835
<i>They know perfectly well what is going on</i>

233
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:47,836
<i>but no one would dream of being so rude</i>
<i>or so shameless as to sneak a look.</i>

234
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,394
(Speaking Dogon)

235
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,433
(David) Pourquoi tous les statues de Dogon...

236
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:20,832
<i>The master of masks speaks French...</i>
<i>this country was once French territory...</i>

237
00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:24,071
<i>and through him I asked the smith</i>
<i>what he was carving.</i>

238
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,276
(Speaking Dogon)

239
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:43,518
<i>"An old woman has died," he said,</i>
<i>"and I'm making a statue of her</i>

240
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,192
<i>"for her funeral celebrations."</i>

241
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:49,910
<i>A statue that will be carried on the head</i>
<i>of the chief mourner as he dances.</i>

242
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:51,752
(Man translating into French)

243
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:04,233
<i>Why has she got such a thin body?</i>
<i>"Because she was an old woman," he said.</i>

244
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,392
(Speaking in French)

245
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:12,315
<i>But if she was an old woman,</i>
<i>then why does she have such young breasts?</i>

246
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:14,356
(Speaking Dogon)

247
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:21,998
<i>"To show that once she was a real woman.</i>

248
00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:26,676
<i>"And because her family would like</i>
<i>to remember her as she was in her prime. "

249
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:31,117
II fait la meme chose, comme la vieille femme.

250
00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:43,396
<i>The other smith was carving a mask.</i>
<i>A monkey mask, the master said.</i>

251
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:45,550
(Speaking Dogon)

252
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:50,072
<i>Was this the first time</i>
<i>he had made a monkey mask?</i>

253
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:51,354
(Translates)

254
00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:54,748
<i>No, he had made three before.</i>

255
00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:00,198
<i>How did he know what a monkey mask</i>
<i>should look like?</i>

256
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:03,272
<i>Was it going to be</i>
<i>his own personal invention?</i>

257
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,112
(Translates)

258
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:23,796
<i>An old blacksmith had once shown him one</i>
<i>and told him how to do it.</i>

259
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,515
<i>Apart from the ones he had made himself,</i>
<i>had he seen any others?</i>

260
00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:33,070
<i>No. 0nly that first one.</i>

261
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:34,912
- Seulement ca?
- Seulement ca.

262
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:57,430
<i>The mask must be pierced with holes</i>
<i>to take a lattice of rope</i>

263
00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:00,159
<i>which will hold it on the dancer's head.</i>

264
00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:27,559
<i>The actual threading of the rope</i>
<i>is never done by the smith.</i>

265
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:31,792
<i>That is the responsibility</i>
<i>of another official of the mask society.</i>

266
00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:13,996
(Speaking Dogon)

267
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:23,355
<i>It's good.</i>
<i>All that remains to be done is to paint it black</i>

268
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:25,908
<i>with a special vegetable sap.</i>

269
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:32,075
Some people say that art these days
in Africa is dead.

270
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:35,630
And yet it does seem to me that this mask,

271
00:34:35,720 --> 00:34:39,349
in its simple strength and purity of line,

272
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:43,958
has much of the quality
that many of the older pieces

273
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:47,396
that are the treasured possessions
in our Western museums have.

274
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:52,474
And yet I know to my certain knowledge,
that it was only cut from a baobab tree

275
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,233
some three days ago.

276
00:34:55,320 --> 00:35:00,394
But of course, art with a capital A
has very little meaning for the Dogon.

277
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,199
They have no such word for it
in their language.

278
00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:08,434
For them a mask like this sculpture
is not something to hang on the wall

279
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:10,750
or put on an occasional table.

280
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:15,914
For them it is something which has to be seen
in a proper context,

281
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,719
on someone's shoulders,
surrounded by costume,

282
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:22,839
in motion,
accompanied by the throb of drums.

283
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:27,596
Only then does is it cease to be a mere piece
of hewn wood

284
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:31,559
and become a powerful symbol
that the whole community understands.

285
00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:37,112
And until that moment comes,
a mask like this will be put in a sack

286
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:40,988
and stuffed in some corner in a dusty hut,
unregarded.

287
00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:49,434
<i>It's difficult to ask a Dogon if he thinks</i>
<i>a carving beautiful or ugly, good or bad.</i>

288
00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:51,397
<i>How do you translate such words?</i>

289
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:56,474
<i>How can you be sure that they mean</i>
<i>the same thing to him as they do to you?</i>

290
00:35:56,560 --> 00:36:00,599
<i>The Dogon don't look at such sculptures</i>
<i>as these as ornaments,</i>

291
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:02,636
<i>but as religious statements.</i>

292
00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:04,517
<i>Their myths, their philosophies</i>

293
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:09,196
<i>are expressed not in books,</i>
<i>nor even primarily in spoken words</i>

294
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:10,633
<i>but in images.</i>

295
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:20,670
<i>This stool represents the universe,</i>
<i>the earth below linked to the sky</i>

296
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,036
<i>by a giant central tree, the axis of the world.</i>

297
00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:29,956
<i>And on the stool, the first man and woman,</i>
<i>created directly by Ama.</i>

298
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:34,795
<i>The question a Dogon may answer</i>
<i>about such sculpture is not, "Is it good?"</i>

299
00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:36,632
<i>But, "Is it correct?"</i>

300
00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:38,472
<i>Not, "Is it beautiful?"</i>

301
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:42,075
<i>But "Does it speak eloquently</i>
<i>of the ancient truth?"</i>

302
00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:02,637
<i>These are Kanaga masks, almost</i>
<i>the only ones not carved by blacksmiths.</i>

303
00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:06,429
<i>Each is made by the dancer himself,</i>
<i>for his own initiation.</i>

304
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:40,669
<i>By tradition, after the ceremonies,</i>

305
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:44,992
<i>many masks were taken up to caves</i>
<i>in the cliffs that tower above the village,</i>

306
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:46,638
<i>there to be discarded.</i>

307
00:37:46,720 --> 00:37:50,918
<i>After the dance was over,</i>
<i>they had no further value to the Dogon.</i>

308
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,434
<i>And once hundreds of them could be found</i>

309
00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:57,479
<i>by anybody who clambered up</i>
<i>these rock faces.</i>

310
00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:02,790
<i>They have long since been plundered.</i>

311
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,872
<i>It was up here too</i>
<i>that the Dogon brought their dead,</i>

312
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:09,714
<i>to lie among the ruins of ancient buildings</i>
<i>made centuries ago</i>

313
00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:12,553
<i>by previous inhabitants of the cliffs.</i>

314
00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:22,393
<i>But some caves do still contain masks,</i>
<i>secret caves in remote valleys</i>

315
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:26,837
<i>known only to one or two of the most important</i>
<i>men in the mask society.</i>

316
00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:29,798
<i>Deep in this cleft</i>
<i>lies the mother of masks,</i>

317
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:33,839
<i>which is haunted by the greatest</i>
<i>of the ancestral spirits.</i>

318
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:38,710
<i>It is 20 feet tall and so magically powerful</i>
<i>that no man may wear it.</i>

319
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:43,920
<i>At dead of night, it will be paraded through</i>
<i>the village as the climax to a festival.</i>

320
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,468
<i>A festival such as a funeral.</i>

321
00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:48,630
(Singing)

322
00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:53,229
(Gunshots)

323
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:11,518
<i>The Dogon say that the sounds of their guns</i>
<i>are tears for a lost companion.</i>

324
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:36,912
<i>In staging a mock battle,</i>

325
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:40,675
<i>the man's relatives portray the life struggle</i>
<i>of the dead man,</i>

326
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:44,673
<i>who fought so hard and valiantly</i>
<i>to provide for his family</i>

327
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:46,876
<i>and to bring honour to his village,</i>

328
00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,316
<i>but who was vanquished in the end</i>
<i>as all must be.</i>

329
00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:59,512
<i>And yet such an explanation is too simple.</i>

330
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:05,311
<i>For these funeral celebrations</i>
<i>are at once a mourning and a thanksgiving.</i>

331
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:07,834
<i>A drama and a comedy.</i>

332
00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:11,595
<i>A pageant rich in symbolism,</i>
<i>the full meaning of which</i>

333
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:14,399
<i>is only comprehended by the wisest of men,</i>

334
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:18,871
<i>and an exciting thrilling occasion</i>
<i>that will be the talk of the villages</i>

335
00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:20,188
<i>along the cliffs for months</i>

336
00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:23,955
<i>and will never be a forgotten</i>
<i>by anyone who was there.</i>

337
00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:26,508
(Excited shouting, gunshots)

338
00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:47,396
(Singing)

339
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:42,189
<i>As night falls, whirling bull roarers sound.</i>

340
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:46,876
<i>It is a confirmation that this night,</i>
<i>the mother of masks in total darkness</i>

341
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:51,272
<i>will leave her cave to give a final benediction</i>
<i>on the village.</i>

342
00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:18,870
<i>The pageant and drama</i>
<i>continue throughout the night.</i>

343
00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:21,633
(Drumming and music)

344
00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:39,757
- (Gunshot)
- (Whooping)

345
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:32,190
- (Gunshot)
- (Whooping)

346
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:55,113
<i>In the blackness, reality dissolves.</i>

347
00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:57,555
<i>Men become heroes from the past</i>

348
00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:01,269
<i>and wooden masks</i>
<i>become spirits from another world.</i>

349
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:23,871
- (Gunshot)
- (Whooping)

350
00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:50,195
(Chanting)

351
00:45:02,080 --> 00:45:04,878
<i>The hard light of day evaporates the magic</i>

352
00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:09,397
<i>but in some places you can still catch</i>
<i>a glimpse of that supernatural universe.</i>

353
00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:14,918
<i>An old Hogon so aged, that his mind</i>
<i>only just retains its hold on this world</i>

354
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,879
<i>and the door of his house,</i>
<i>rich with sacred emblems.</i>

355
00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:21,269
Ca. Qui est la? Ca?

356
00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:25,148
<i>The primordial couple,</i>
<i>the first man and woman in the world,</i>

357
00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:26,878
<i>children of the god Ama.</i>

358
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:29,633
(Speaking Dogon)

359
00:45:29,720 --> 00:45:33,633
<i>A crocodile, the symbol of age and</i>
<i>of the oldest man in the village</i>

360
00:45:33,720 --> 00:45:36,188
<i>and beside it, a strange headless lizard.</i>

361
00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:41,149
<i>Below that, the sacred tortoise which cares</i>
<i>for the family when the man is away.</i>

362
00:45:41,240 --> 00:45:43,959
<i>And above it, Lebe, the twin snakes</i>

363
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:46,759
<i>that are the movement of water</i>
<i>and the falling of rain.</i>

364
00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:52,753
<i>The crook, with which the first blacksmith</i>
<i>stole a piece of the sun.</i>

365
00:45:55,080 --> 00:46:01,110
<i>Another crocodile and the lock of the door</i>
<i>carved into the shape of an antelope's head</i>

366
00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:03,760
<i>with two straight horns.</i>

367
00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:08,476
<i>0n the pillars, breasts, fertility, a crocodile</i>

368
00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:11,393
<i>and the iron sandals of the first Hogon.</i>

369
00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:26,635
Most people who know Dogon country
would say it's virtually impossible

370
00:46:26,720 --> 00:46:32,238
to go into a Dogon village and find
a spectacular door visible for everyone to see.

371
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,710
And the reason it's so difficult to find
such doors is because

372
00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:39,793
if such a thing as that turned up in say,
London or New York sale rooms,

373
00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:44,431
it might fetch anything up to
L20,000 or $50,000,

374
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:50,356
and with prices like that being paid, it's scarcely
surprising that most doors and most sculpture

375
00:46:50,440 --> 00:46:54,274
have long since been taken away
from the Dogon country.

376
00:46:56,040 --> 00:46:58,838
<i>It's hard to know what should be done</i>
<i>about that.</i>

377
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:03,914
<i>In the vast empty spaces of Africa,</i>
<i>it's impossible to police all frontiers</i>

378
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:08,073
<i>and prevent the export of pieces</i>
<i>that a country might want to keep.</i>

379
00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:11,311
<i>And anyway,</i>
<i>who is it who can say that people,</i>

380
00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:13,960
<i>lacking so much that money can buy,</i>

381
00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:18,830
<i>should be forbidden to sell</i>
<i>their own possessions if they wish to do so?</i>

382
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:27,032
<i>At any rate, over the past 50 years,</i>
<i>Dogon sculptures have left Africa</i>

383
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:32,035
<i>and they now stand eloquent witness</i>
<i>not only to a new way of seeing,</i>

384
00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:35,192
<i>but to a totally different way of living.</i>

385
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:39,431
- That can't be female, she's got a beard.
- I don't know what that is!

386
00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:42,114
- 32?
- Yes, kneeling female figure.

387
00:47:42,200 --> 00:47:47,035
- But this must be a hat.
- She's got a mask on or something.

388
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:58,710
Er, you know, you can also see but...
It's still great. Look at the earrings on it.

389
00:47:59,640 --> 00:48:03,076
(Woman) This is magnificent, I just love it!

390
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:06,150
It's not my favourite.

391
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:12,036
Anything that has that kind of...

392
00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:15,829
chicken blood and grease and whatever
and it's been loved and loved and loved,

393
00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:18,480
I've got to appreciate.

394
00:48:18,560 --> 00:48:23,236
- Would you say it was beautiful?
- Beautiful?

395
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:26,392
Imagine people living like that all the time,
with that beauty around them,

396
00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:28,311
everything is just functional and just beautiful.

397
00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:30,994
I mean everything is functional
and it's meant to be used

398
00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:33,674
and it's utilitarian,
and it's a work of art besides.

399
00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:37,514
I love the way the planes meet one another

400
00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:43,436
and the excitement, the coolness,
that sort of Marshall McLuhan attitude.

401
00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:47,513
(David) Do you think it's important that people
in the West should see these sort of things?

402
00:48:47,600 --> 00:48:49,795
- Yes.
- Why?

403
00:48:49,880 --> 00:48:56,672
Why? Because I feel that
the juxtaposition of another culture,

404
00:48:56,760 --> 00:48:58,478
makes us know more about ourselves.

405
00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:27,436
(Speaking Dogon)