Spectacular Dogon Masquerade

This masquerade features a large and varied assembly of musicians and brilliant performers on foot, in the air, and on stilts, wearing masks evoking animal and human spirits and Dogon legends. Note the locale, Tireli, Mali, an agricultural village huddled into the base of a mountain in the Bandiagara escarpment, where productive land is scarce; the rhythms, steps, and gestures particular to each mask; the delight and imitative dancing of the children; the sympathetic send-up of a doddering old man, who leaps into the air when energized by his music; the village elders seated solemnly in a row toward the left; and the extraordinary vitality and athleticism of the dancing of the Kanaga (resembling the Croix de Lorraine) and Syringe (very high and fenestrated) masks. Videography by Christraud Geary, Teele Curator of African and Oceanic Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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