S01E01 Behind the Mask
The craftsmen of the Dogon people of Mali are among the finest sculptors in the world. The head of each household must tend the wooden cult figures in which the spirits of his ancestors dwell,...
The Tribal Eye
S01E06: Man Blong Custom
Some of the most spectacular and dramatic tribal sculpture in the world came from the islands of the Western Pacific. Today, Malekula, in the New Hebrides is one of the few places where people still carve in the old tradition. Rituals are held in the men’s cult-house, where masks and figures are made to be exhibited to boys as they become initiated into the spirit world. Life size effigies, the heads of which are human skulls fleshed out with clay, dance as cavorting puppets in funeral ceremonies. The images are startling, even horrifying, but they are essential elements in the religious life of the people. Without the one, the other would disappear. Then we journey to the neighboring Solomon Islands and examine their magnificent war canoes, their sea spirit dances, and an anthropological phenomenon, Moro. This island mystic arose to say that the gods of the island wished the people to send the foreign Christians back home and once again worship the ancients.
Overview
David Attenborough explains the enormous growth of interest in tribal art, and explores the emotions which lie behind the masks and decorations of primitive people.
Episodes
S01E02 Crooked Beak of Heaven
The Northwest Coast Haida, Gitksan and Kwakiutl Indians inhabit a beautiful, harsh land along the coast of British Columbia and south to Oregon. Pre-eminent carvers of wood, they created totem poles that are among the...
S01E03 Sweat of the Sun
Gold has fascinated people in all cultures, representing in their minds perfection and immortality. In the pre-Columbian Indian civilization of Central and South America native craftsmen fashioned gold into the most exquisite expressions of their...
S01E04 Kingdom of Bronze
In 1897 a group of African bronzes arrived in London that caused a sensation. Many European experts refused to believe that the bronzesmiths of the obscure ancient African kingdom of Benin in Nigeria could have...
S01E05 Woven Gardens
In a wonderful combination of beauty, function and tradition, this episodes features the rugs of the Qashqa’i Nomads of Iran. The rugs are a perfect mirror of the nomadic life of this Iranian people. Wool...
S01E06 Man Blong Custom
Some of the most spectacular and dramatic tribal sculpture in the world came from the islands of the Western Pacific. Today, Malekula, in the New Hebrides is one of the few places where people still...
S01E07 Across the Frontiers
Attenborough summarizes his exploration of tribal ways as seen through tribal arts. He explains that the structure of many tribal societies is so delicate that even apparently helpful ideas introduced from the outside can rock...
Cast
David Attenborough
