January 14, 2005

MALUNG

Below is a picture I really treasure. I had a really hard time in Pakistan because how I looked signified my beliefs to Muslims, and to them this made me an "infidel." When I found the Kallash tribe they welcomed me like a brother.

I arrived just in time for their annual fertility festival. I couldn't believe that I had found an intact dance culture which had survived the bight of the inquisition surrounded by probably the most Fundamental Islamic state in the world.

The festival was three days long. The kids always danced but the only other male to dance for the three days was the guy on the right. The tribes local nutter. He wasn't right in the head and was the butt of a lot of peoples jokes, but he was one of the most uninhibitted dancers I've seen away from my culture. As all the other men of the village shuffled from foot to foot we danced together like motherfuckers.

They had abandoned their tribal dress to "fit in" with the surrounding Islamists and it was easy to see the finacial and cultural presure the tribe were under to convert. I hope they are all OK. They are an amazing people with an amazing culture.

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