On the Road with Bob Holman: Timbuktu To the Dogons

The show continues in Timbuktu where Bob gets more insight into the dusty off-station in the middle of nowhere. Bob goes to the Timbuktu Library, with volumes from the 16th Century when the city was the center of African learning. We ourselves learn how to ride a camel and how Timbuktu got its name before we venture into the Sahara and spend an afternoon listening to the hypnotic music of the Tuaregs, the nomadic “blue people,” named because their indigo-dyed clothing rubs off on their skin. Then we head south to visit the Dogons, renowned for the interplay of their culture of masks with daily life and rituals. Bob tries to get a mask ceremony to happen: he buys millet beer for the town, and we see how it is brewed. Then he has his fortune read via iconic marks in the sand that are left overnight for the pale fox to wander through and change their meanings, one of many Dogon traditions first written about by Marcel Griaule. When the village erupts into a mask ceremony, the Dogon dancing, music and masks evoke a complete cosmology of extraordinary beauty, utterly fascinating and unique.

[@misskeeks]

I hope one day you release what happened next. Thanks for the great footage.

[@ricdavid7476]

Amazing vid thanks

[@chrisdior11]

Very good job Bob.

[@bobholmanpoet]

Glad you liked Episode 2, Nadya. I would love to return to the Dogons, but currently have no plans.

[@Nadyabb]

Thanks for sharing this Bob. It's really beautiful and insightful. Is there any chance of seeing the rest of this ceremony and experience with the Dogon, and their fascinating knowledge please?

[@emiliomurillo20]

you did not finish it, good work, more please