introduces the new series of films which begins on Tuesday.
In the auction rooms of London and New York, millions of pounds are spent each year on master-pieces of tribal art - masks from Africa, golden jewellery from Peru, rugs from Persia. No longer are these dismissed as ' primitive,' and they are now admired for their artistry in just the same way as the major works of European sculptors and painters.
They express with power and directness the beliefs of the people who made them. And yet a mask is not at its best in a museum. How much more powerful it becomes as the embodiment of a spirit in a ritual dance drama, seen by the light of a crackling fire and animated by the pounding rhythm of drums.