Transcript:

KALABARI MASQUERADE -- The TestHere's a program from our archives.Ambience: Crowd, singing For the Kalabari people of Nigeria, the Alagba Masquerade is a celebration of the spirit world. For some Kalabari men, it's also an important rite of passage. I'm Jim Metzner and this is Pulse of the Planet.ambience: drumming The drumming we're listening to right now is directed at a single dancer, a man disguised as a female spirit named Alagba. He's performing in costume in front of his entire village. The drum rhythms are a set of instructions, a sort of "Simon Says," played out in the language of the drum. "So you must hear the drums and things right and go through the test of being able to point out various ancestral shrines and things in the village correctly by being able to understand drum language." Sokari Douglas-Camp is a sculptor whose work has appeared in "The Art of the Kalabari Masquerade" an exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History."People know when a dancer makes a mistake because if you're asked to point west and you point south you're definitely wrong and there is a member of the cult sitting to the side of the arena with a drum and if he hits that drum to say 'listen boy, you know, you're just totally wrong,' members of the opposing compounds will come and rip his costume off, will turn him back into a man in public. You know, his family will be disgraced and he'll be just so embarrassed he won't be able to show his face in town." But if the dance is performed properly, the dancer receives many accolades and much prestige, not to mention being inducted into the elite group of men responsible for the keeping of the traditions and secrets of the Alagba masquerade.We've been listening to a program from our archives. Check out our website, pulseplanet.com for a link to my latest project - a novel. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.