Ongka is a charismatic big-man of the Kawelka tribe who live scattered in the Western highlands, north of Mount Hagen, in New Guinea. The film focuses on the motivations and efforts involved in organising a big ceremonial gift-exchange or moka planned to take place sometime in 1974. Ongka has spent nearly five years preparing for this ceremonial exchange, using all his big-man skills of oratory and persuasion in order to try to assemble what he hopes will be a huge gift of 600 pigs, some cows, some cassowaries, a motorcycle, a truck and £5,500 in cash. As an example of the big-man familiar from written texts, Ongka is memorable, and the film manages to convey through this main character the importance of pigs, of exchange and of prestige in the life of these Highlanders. The film-crew never in fact managed to film the big moka, as the conspiratorial and complex manoeuvres involved in setting the date thwarted their plans. But we are shown Ongka replacing tee-shirt and shorts with his ceremonial feathers and setting off to a little moka where he collects pigs he `invested' with his wife's father. The interview with Ongka's wife raises the issue of the sexual division of labour and the importance of the wife's labour in pig-rearing and moka preparation, as well as the role of women in the establishment of a big-man.
A key component to Kawelka culture, the Moka ceremony finds those seeking to gain influence attempting to do so not by acquiring valuable objects, but by giving them away. This is similar to the Potlatch in Haida culture. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned and the leader of the tribe is ultimately threatened with violence as a result of his outwardly selfless act of giving.
Directed by Charlie Nairn, Ethnographer Andrew J. Strathern, In Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute), 55 minutes
Spiral Tribe! [Rare] Exclusive interview that was given to BBC's Dance Energy programme [1991] about the for's and against's regarding the free party scene that was happening at the time! 👈😵💫👉 #Spiraltribe #Freeparty23 #Rave #Terratech
The isolated region of Ladakh in northern India has changed rapidly in the past two decades due to sudden and shocking contact with the outside world. Tourists love to frequent the unique Himalayan region wedged between Tibet and Kashmir, but their presence is not without consequences.
Presented here without subtitles, it can downloaded from the site and subtitles are available here to add yourself.
The film tells two stories thirty years apart, both featuring Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and last survivor of his tribe. He travels with two scientists, firstly with German Theo von Martius in 1909 and American named Evan in 1940, to look for the rare yakruna, a (fictional) sacred plant.
The film blends visions, dreams, memories and the conventional story of a journey into a hallucinatory account of how human societies exist in the world- one against the frame of a luxuriant and cruel nature, the other against a cruel and powerful colonialism. The world of spiritual integrity grows dim and men and women lose the connection with their dreams, and nature is destroyed as a result. This film is an important document for the evolution of human consciousness in a time of great ignorance and misunderstanding.
Episode 1: The Shock of the Other.
Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World is a series of video programs by Harvard anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis. The 1992 documentary series was presented as 10 video programs, each 60 minutes long, and was released on VHS after being aired on public television. The series was designed to stimulate reflection and inspire a new look at what the modern world can learn from tribal societies as the millennium approached.
I watched Millennium when it was first shown on Australian television in 1992. It changed my life. I was 23.
The fifth in a series of very hard to find films on Borneo produced by Tom Harrisson and Hugh Gibb and first broadcast on the BBC in the late 1950s.
The culture and lifestyle of the Iban Sea Dayaks living on the Skrang River are documented. Included are religious practices, agriculture, cooking methods, textiles, and headhunting. Hugh Gibb and Tom Harrisson for British television. (1956)
The Mark of Cain. Producer and Director: Alix Lambert; Creative Commons license: CC0 1.0 Universal
The Mark of Cain documents the fading art form and language of Russian criminal tattoos, formerly a forbidden topic in Russia. The now vanishing practice is seen as reflecting the transition of the broader Russian society. Filmed in some of Russia;s most notorious prisons, including the fabled White Swan, the interviews with prisoners, guards, and criminologists reveal the secret language of The Zone and The Code of Thieve.
The prisoners of the Stalinist Gulag, or "Zone," as it is called, developed a complex social structure (documented as early as the 1920s) that incorporated highly symbolic tattooing as a mark of rank. The existence of these inmates at prisons and forced labor camps was treated by the state as a deeply-kept secret. In the 1990s, Russia's prison population exploded, with overcrowding among the worst in the world. Some estimates suggest that in the last generation over thirty million of Russia's inmates have had tattoos even though the process is illegal inside Russian prisons.
The Mark of Cain examines every aspect of the tattooing, from the actual creation of the tattoo ink, interviews with the tattooers and soberly looks at the double-edged sword of prison tattoos. In many ways, they were needed to survive brutal Russian prisons, but mark the prisoner for life, which complicates any readmission to normal society they may have. Tattoos expressly identify what the convict has been convicted of, how many prisons he;s been in and what kind of criminal he is. Tattoos, essentially, tell you everything you need to know about that person without ever asking. Each tattoo represents a variety of things; cupolas on churches represent the number of convictions a convict has, epaulets tattooed on shoulders represent the rank of the individual in the crime world and so on and so forth.
The unflinching look at the Russian prison system is slowly woven into the film. Cells meant to hold 15 hold 35 to 45 men. Drug resistant tuberculosis runs rampant through the prison populations and prisoners are served three meals a day of watery slop. There are allegations of brutality by the guards. As these men deal with pestilence, violence and grossly substandard living conditions, the prison guards and administration put on a talent show.
The film served as source material for David Cronenberg's 2007 dramatic movie, Eastern Promises. He commented, "This is a very courageous documentary on the tattooing subculture in Russian prisons. I don't know how it ever got made, but it's beautiful, scary, and heartbreaking."
The Luton based Exodus Collective came into existence in 1992 as part of the growing DIY culture which arose in response to unemployment, poverty and frustration amongst young people.
They organised free 'rave' parties, renovated derelict homes, set up a community farm and planned to open a community centre.Some of their activities bordered on illegality but they were entirely peaceful Exodus had a huge following amongst local people.
Their philosophy had a strong spiritual strand, appealing to notions of community and natural justice in its struggle for survival and renewal. However, their utopian project presented a challenge to the status quo and met with powerful opposition.
Exodus from Babylon investigates the intricate web of this opposition, from aggressive policing to local government obstruction. It reveals the shift in policing from reactive peace keeping to proactive intervention, involving a series of special operations by Bedfordshire Police.
The programme looks in detail at a number of police actions against Exodus, including the prosecution and acquittal of collective member, Paul Taylor, for possession of Ecstasy and for murder. It asks why the strategy of getting tough with Exodus emerged and identifies a number of interlocking interests at play.
88 Boadrum composed by the Boredoms and conducted by Brooklyn's Gang Gang Dance at the Williamsburg Waterfront in New York City on August 8th, 2008, 8:08 PM.
Drummers: Ryan Sawyer (Tall Firs / Stars Like Fleas / Thurston Moore / Eye Contact / Lone Wolf and Cub) Chris Brokaw (Come/ ffffflashlights/ Thurston Moore's New Wave Bandits) Will Shmee (Knox Dad) Suzanne Rogaleski (Lone Wolf and Cub / Badmittons) Alex Holden (Big Numbers) Brian Mcleod (Modest Mouse / Lights / Love as Laughter) Torbitt Schwartz (Chin Chin / Reverend Vince Anderson) Jaleel Bunton (TV on the Radio / Reverend Vince Anderson) Brian Tamborello (Psychic Ills) Jim Siegel (Ning Nong Radio) Greg Anderson (Oakley Hall / Windsor for the Derby) Dreiky Caprice (Crash Worship) Matt Heyner (Malkuth / No-Neck Blues Band) Joseph Stickney (Bear In Heaven / Rhys Chatham / Paul Duncan) Matt Sweeney (Chavez / Zwan / Neil Diamond) Samara Lubelski (Hall of Fame / Thurston Moore's New Wave Bandits) Pete Nolan (Magik Markers / Spectre Folk) Abby Portner (Rings / Hex Message) Tom Peyton (Fakers / KGB) John Moloney (Sunburned Hand of the Man) Andrya Ambro (Talk Normal) David Sparks Spencer Herbst (Matta Llama) Timothy Monaghan (J.A.C.K.) Andrew Barker (Gold Sparkle Band) Joseph Noll (My Best Fiend) Dave Witte (Municipal Waste) Nick Lesley (Necking / Gunung Sari) Jim Sykes (Parts and Labor) Michael Evans (God Is My Co-Pilot) Dong-Ping Wong (Necking) Spencer Sweeney Nondor Nevai (Aborted Christ Child) Jonathan Lockie (Sightings) Dave Bergander (Celebration) Jules Scott Key (Metric / Bang Lime) Yuval Lion (Pink Noise) Ronnie Seward (Whooping Crane) Corinne Jones (Effi Briest) Adam Lee (Let's Go Bowling) Nancy Garcia (Monotract / Thurston Moore) Ben McConnell (Phosphorescent) Pascal Spengemann (Hex Message) Speck Brown (Orphan) Laura Rogers (The Rogers Sisters) Rupert Clervaux (Sian Alice Group) Kyle Warren (Dinowalrus) Adam Marnie (The Mess of New Mexico) Alex Epton (Spank Rock / XXXchange) Otto Hauser (Espers / Bert Jansch / Vashti Bunyan) Nick DeCarmine (Slow Dynamte) Frank Haines (Blanko and Noiry) Brian Deran Marcus Burrowes (Rockersnyc) Avi Cohen (Soiled Mattress and the Springs / Silk Flowers Emmy Miller (Xtreme Violence / The Peppermints) Ryan Tozzi Oran Canfield (Child Abuse) Erik Rappin (A.R.E. Weapons) Matt McCauley (A.R.E. Weapons) Brian McPeck (A.R.E. Weapons) Brian Weitz (Animal Collective) Kyle Simon (Baby Talk) Danny Tunick (Arnold Dreyblatt / Fakers) Leah Moskowitz (Bloody for Me) Joe Wong (Parts and Labor) Nathan Corbin (Excepter) Hamish Kilgour (Clean and the Great Unwashed / Samara Lubelski) Linnea Vedder Shults (LIGHTS) Lacy Lancaster (Durty Nanas) Kathleen Cholewka (Les Sans Culottes / Discovery) Noah Lennox (Panda Bear / Animal Collective) James Buonantuono (Other Passengers / Ruby Glass) Sadie Laska (I.U.D. / Extreme Violence) Keith Connolly (No-Neck Blues Band) Jason Mills James Corrigan (ON?OFF / Wool, Rivers) Miles Levy (Malcolm Mooney / No Doctors) Tommy Rouse (Entrance) Eric Cohen (Caroliner Rainbow) Christopher Weingarten (ex-Parts and Labor) Tim Evans (Bogan Dust Ian Vanek (Japanther) Chris Millstein (Jah Division) Nick Ray (Golden Triangle) Travis Chance (Usurp Synapse) Michael Colin (Aa)
My mother arrived today from Edinburgh with tales of the vibrant and busy city. In honour of my Scots blood (of the clan Gordon) I give you Clann An Drumma. Scottish Tribal Music!
Clann An Drumma, Scots Gaelic for "Children of the Drum" is a tribal
band from Glasgow, Scotland. Clann An Drumma was formed by Joe Kilna
MacKenzie, Jacquie Holland and Tu-Bardh Stormcrow Wilson among others.
Like many other bands, their line-up has changed over the years.
Their
music involves heavy use of percussion (namely traditional Scottish
drums) and Highland bagpipes with an emphasis on the more traditional
"tribal" sounds of ancient Scotland. The band's motto is "Keep it
Tribal".
One of their more well-known pieces is "Sgt. MacKenzie".
It was composed by Joe MacKenzie in memory of his great grandfather,
Charles Stuart MacKenzie, who died in battle during World War I. "Sgt.
MacKenzie" is perhaps a departure from their normal style, as its
drumming and piping are subdued and it is primarily a vocal piece. It
was featured in the soundtrack to the 2002 film, We Were Soldiers. To
date the band has released a total of seven albums.
Joe Kilna MacKenzie died after a long illness, on 28 April 2009. RIP Joe.
