Description:

Deep playa, Thursday night, a fire burns bright. As deep desert travelers gather around the fire, the villagers emerge. Delighted to have surprise guests at their small, mystical village of Kabala, they alert the chief. Carried out on a traditional West African throne, the chief comes to greet the crowd and welcome them to his village. Speaking in his tribal language of Mende, he teaches the crowd something of his ancestry and asks if they would like to be inducted into their secret society. The ritual begins, and in addition to the initiation, the chief has decided that they will “pull the devils” in honor of their new visitors. As drumming and traditional Sierra Leonean instruments thump throughout the “village”, masked dancers emerge, pulling the visitors into the devil’s parade. Traditional bamboo sticks are given away so that the visitors can play along with the staccato rhythm of the devil’s dance song. Finally, the devil emerges: both frightening and powerful, good and mischievous, the devil plays with the deep playa visitors. A dance ensues, mixing traditional Sierra Leonean beats with modern house and hip-hop.