A few moons ago. At the beginning of 2013 Paul and Joel Redman and myself embarked on a mind bogglingly intrepid series of journeys visiting and documenting the lives of indigenous peoples across the world for a series of films and photographs commissioned by the Ford Foundation. We had been doing projects of this nature specialising in the lives of traditional and marginalised peoples for some time. However this ambitious series grew from a few films and exhibitions to the beginnings of a movement and now the growth of an organisation If Not Us Then Who which trains and mentors indigenous film makers and artists across the world. When this photograph was taken my mind was on other things. We were journeying back to the remote town of Bonanza along a series of extraordinary rivers which cut through the jungle and mountains of the Bosawas Biosphere. This really is a land which time forgot. Enormous trees with vast trunks lean across the narrow rivers, giving a sense of nature arching and looming above you, you feel utterly compressed by its impressive power, nowhere can you feel smaller than when sat in a tiny canoe chugging through this thick forest. It’s utterly remote, when the Spanish arrived the native peoples, mostly Mayangna, retreated into this dense labyrinth and ever since it has served as a refuge, their final territories. For some time you can travel along and not see anyone, you become entranced and mesmerised by the sheer green walls opposite you, then you go around a bend in the river and there on the shoreline are three or four small canoes tied to a tree, smoke comes wafting across from a fireside hidden from view nearby, a group of children clutch to the vegetation and watch us pass. Then a long way still and you see no one. In the afternoon a long metallic canoe swished past us laden with sacks. The two skippers, ours and the one from the other craft shouted a greeting to one another as we passed. I caught in the flash of their passing the image of their skipper, he was tall and well built, one hand on the tiller the other resting on the handle of a rather magnificent looking revolver which hung from his belt. As we rocked in the wake our skipper laughed and said matter of factly. “Cocaine, from Honduras.” And we carried on. It rained and sometimes we were utterly soaked, small pools of water collecting around your haunches, then the sun came out and it blasted heat down upon us. The river at that time of the year was low and we frequently had to haul our film gear some distance along the river bank through the jungle to a point suitable for the boat to rejoin. Then we’d walk back to the offending shallows or rocks and physically drag the canoe along until the river deepened enough for us to continue.
Panama - Emberá traditional music, flute and drums
Over the years I've recorded many sounds in different locations around the world. This collection of recordings aims to highlight the unique 'voices of a place'.
The Emberá people of Panama, the ‘Golden People,’ live principally in the Archipelago of San Blas and the mouth of the Bayano and Chucunaque rivers in Panama. They are an extraordinary group of people who we have worked closely with for many years now. They are good friends and it was a blessing for me to be able to go finally on a shoot and stay with them in their communities. It felt like a long time since I had last strung my trusty old hammock to the secure roof support of an indigenous house in the rainforest. This is from a series of recordings, the first with a small group of musicians, flute, drums and percussion, they reminded me of a bunch of characters from Chaucer; the second which I will get round to publishing soon was of children singing old folk songs. The sounds of Panama.
Although technically ‘Panamanian’ citizens, they have achieved one of the most positive arrangements of any indigenous people in the world today by having almost complete sovereignty over their own lands and affairs. Although the pressures from the outside world are growing more challenging for these communities.