Latest news with #Mucubal
The Independent
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
BBC star Bruce Parry issued warning by Peta after he suffocated goat on TV show
The leading animal charity Peta has issued a warning to BBC star Bruce Parry, who suffocated and killed a goat on his rebooted TV show, Tribe. In the second episode of the series Tribe with Bruce Parry, the adventurer meets the Macubal, a community living in Angola's harsh Namib Desert, where he is gifted a goat by one of the group's leaders as a welcome. He was told by the members of the tribe that he must kill the animal, which initially left the presenter horrified. Parry eventually went through with the ritual out of fear of offending the hosts, and told cameras about how the animals are essential to the tribute as symbols of currency, gifts and sustenance. He said: 'This is the most gruesome thing I have ever done,' adding, "I wasn't given any time to consider it or anything. It's like they held it and said you have to hold this now... so I did.' Peta UK's President of Programmes Elisa Allen said in a statement that Parry would have been facing 'criminal charges if his abominably cruel goat suffocation had occurred on British soil'. Allen added: 'For selfish ratings 'shock value', a gentle being who otherwise loved to play and jump spent her final moments in abject terror – gasping for air, struggling to stay alive, and bleating for mercy that Parry failed to grant. 'Parry's excuse of cultural immersion is a failed attempt at washing his hands of an act of wanton cruelty to animals, and the BBC must answer for enabling such cruelty.' Allen suggested that, if Parry wants to make amends, he should make a 'sizeable donation' to a goat sanctuary. A spokesperson for the BBC told The Sun: 'The goat sequence in episode two accurately portrays an essential part of Mucubal life in Angola, and it is traditional for Mucubal communities to ask visitors to slaughter a goat.' 'As the programme explains, the Mucubal believe that stabbing an animal is cruel and suffocation is a more respectful death. 'The goat was eaten after its slaughter and to avoid including it in the programme would create an inauthentic portrayal of Mucubal life.' In the episode, Parry stays with the 30-strong family and witnesses the rituals his hosts continue to maintain. Parry first starred in the BBC Two documentary series from 2004 to 2007, which saw him live with various tribal groups to better understand their culture. The new edition of the show, rebranded as Tribe with Bruce Parry, saw the explorer projectile vomit after doing psychedelics with the Waimaha people in the Colombian Amazon rainforest. Speaking about the comeback, Parry said: 'It's been over twenty years since Tribe first aired. 'Living with people who experience the world in such profoundly different ways was eye-opening then, but today it feels vital,' he added. 'I believe we have so much to learn from those who still live in deep connection with the world around them,' the explorer continued. 'It feels a huge privilege that the BBC has allowed me to explore these places and themes once again.'
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bruce Parry on life among tribal communities
Living with some of the world's most remote tribal communities has changed filmmaker and indigenous right activist Bruce Parry. "I started out as an adventurer," he says. "It was all ego – I wanted to climb the biggest mountain, go and find the tribe that no one's visited to show the world how tough I was." Across three series of the BAFTA-winning Tribe, viewers have seen Parry taking the psychedelic drug ayahuasca, having his nose pierced with a thorn and taking part in numerous rituals. Now, the series is returning to screens for the first time since 2007. He was in his mid-30s in the first series of Tribe - and he has just turned 56. "Initially on the show, my whole remit was to not say anything and to experience," he says. "Now, I am much more knowledgeable, and that made it harder to be that wide-eyed character. "I'm not the same guy any more." Warning: This story contains descriptions of animal cruelty some readers may find distressing. While trying to understand the communities he visits, Parry sometimes encounters difficult situations. Among Angola's Mucubal community, for example, custom demands that as a guest, he must sacrifice a goat in a way expected within the group – that is, by suffocating it. "They do it because they see it as respectful," says Parry. In the episode, he says this is the "most gruesome thing" he has ever been a part of. "I knew how that was going to feel to some members of the audience," he says, adding that some might see it as "barbaric". Despite finding it upsetting, he says he was able to get through it by thinking on a global scale. "If you take these people as a whole, they are not a problem on this planet," he says, arguing, in his view, that by doing things like eating meat "you are contributing to so much more that is potentially negative and impactful on the planet". In his new three-part BBC series, he lives among three remote communities. He conducts a sacred ritual with Colombia's Waimaha people, lives among Angola's Mucubal community and visits Indonesia's Marapu. Behind the scenes, Parry's team works hard to make sure their visits are not just what he calls "coming to take away their images [by filming them] and take them home". Instead, he refers to his time with the remote communities as an "exchange", with his team often trading gifts with the people he visits. In the past, he has given equipment, from boats to a machine used to grind sorghum - a staple grain in Africa and Asia. And in the show, we see him receive items in return in the form of livestock or other items culturally important to each community. "Sometimes they just want guns," Parry says, "but as the BBC, we can't quite do that." He adds: "We haven't ever really approached anyone that isn't really excited for us to come. I've never really had a sense that people didn't want me there." There may, however, be some wariness based on negative experience with outsiders. The Waimaha, whose culture was nearly decimated by rubber tappers and missionaries, for example, make Parry sleep away from them until he has gained their trust. Each episode reveals some of the other outside factors facing each community. The region of Angola that Parry visits was inaccessible for decades because of landmines left during that country's civil war. And the Mucubal group feel the effects of climate change as the desert they live in gets hotter and drier. Parry says he brings these issues to our attention after identifying what he saw as a problem with the original series. "You could be forgiven for watching those first episodes and thinking that these people were living in pristine environments in the middle of nowhere, untouched by the outside world," he says. "We used to get people saying it was questionable to go to these places and change them by our presence. "To some degree, we are doing that, but our impact on those people was a drop in the ocean compared to all the other forces of change, the globalisation, the miners, the loggers and the missionaries." While travelling, Parry says he often finds unexpected similarities in how people live their lives. The Mucubal, for example, knock out some of their bottom teeth and file down their front two. In the show, Parry says: "The things we do for beauty" - hinting at dental and cosmetic procedures common around the world. Other communities have very different practices - but Parry thinks we can learn from them. The Marapu live among the graves of their dead ancestors, giving them a unique bond. "I'm not here to put any group on a pedestal," he says, "we're all human, but there is definitely always something that we can learn from each other. "And actually, the more different you are, probably the more there is for us to learn." Now, he says his guiding principle is "the more you can try and see the world through another person's eyes, the more you can reflect on your own life and your own culture. "And that's where wisdom comes." Watch Tribe with Bruce Parry on BBC iPlayer 'World's loneliest man' and last of his tribe dies Modernity creeps into India's tribal communities Cashmere and climate change threaten nomadic life
BBC News
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bruce Parry on life among tribal communities
Living with some of the world's most remote tribal communities has changed filmmaker and indigenous right activist Bruce Parry."I started out as an adventurer," he says. "It was all ego – I wanted to climb the biggest mountain, go and find the tribe that no one's visited to show the world how tough I was."Across three series of the BAFTA-winning Tribe, viewers have seen Parry taking the psychedelic drug ayahuasca, having his nose pierced with a thorn and taking part in numerous rituals. Now, the series is returning to screens for the first time since was in his mid-30s in the first series of Tribe - and he has just turned 56. "Initially on the show, my whole remit was to not say anything and to experience," he says."Now, I am much more knowledgeable, and that made it harder to be that wide-eyed character. "I'm not the same guy any more."Warning: This story contains descriptions of animal cruelty some readers may find distressing. 'Most gruesome thing' While trying to understand the communities he visits, Parry sometimes encounters difficult situations. Among Angola's Mucubal community, for example, custom demands that as a guest, he must sacrifice a goat in a way expected within the group – that is, by suffocating it."They do it because they see it as respectful," says Parry. In the episode, he says this is the "most gruesome thing" he has ever been a part of."I knew how that was going to feel to some members of the audience," he says, adding that some might see it as "barbaric".Despite finding it upsetting, he says he was able to get through it by thinking on a global scale."If you take these people as a whole, they are not a problem on this planet," he says, arguing, in his view, that by doing things like eating meat "you are contributing to so much more that is potentially negative and impactful on the planet". 'Sometimes, they just want guns' In his new three-part BBC series, he lives among three remote communities. He conducts a sacred ritual with Colombia's Waimaha people, lives among Angola's Mucubal community and visits Indonesia's the scenes, Parry's team works hard to make sure their visits are not just what he calls "coming to take away their images [by filming them] and take them home".Instead, he refers to his time with the remote communities as an "exchange", with his team often trading gifts with the people he the past, he has given equipment, from boats to a machine used to grind sorghum - a staple grain in Africa and Asia. And in the show, we see him receive items in return in the form of livestock or other items culturally important to each community. "Sometimes they just want guns," Parry says, "but as the BBC, we can't quite do that."He adds: "We haven't ever really approached anyone that isn't really excited for us to come. I've never really had a sense that people didn't want me there."There may, however, be some wariness based on negative experience with outsiders. The Waimaha, whose culture was nearly decimated by rubber tappers and missionaries, for example, make Parry sleep away from them until he has gained their trust. Each episode reveals some of the other outside factors facing each community. The region of Angola that Parry visits was inaccessible for decades because of landmines left during that country's civil war. And the Mucubal group feel the effects of climate change as the desert they live in gets hotter and says he brings these issues to our attention after identifying what he saw as a problem with the original series."You could be forgiven for watching those first episodes and thinking that these people were living in pristine environments in the middle of nowhere, untouched by the outside world," he says."We used to get people saying it was questionable to go to these places and change them by our presence."To some degree, we are doing that, but our impact on those people was a drop in the ocean compared to all the other forces of change, the globalisation, the miners, the loggers and the missionaries." 'That's where wisdom comes' While travelling, Parry says he often finds unexpected similarities in how people live their Mucubal, for example, knock out some of their bottom teeth and file down their front two. In the show, Parry says: "The things we do for beauty" - hinting at dental and cosmetic procedures common around the world. Other communities have very different practices - but Parry thinks we can learn from them. The Marapu live among the graves of their dead ancestors, giving them a unique bond."I'm not here to put any group on a pedestal," he says, "we're all human, but there is definitely always something that we can learn from each other. "And actually, the more different you are, probably the more there is for us to learn."Now, he says his guiding principle is "the more you can try and see the world through another person's eyes, the more you can reflect on your own life and your own culture. "And that's where wisdom comes."
BBC News
17-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bruce Parry returns to the Tribe for BBC Two and iPlayer
BBC Factual announces that after more than a decade away from TV, filmmaker and indigenous rights advocate Bruce Parry returns to BBC Two and iPlayer. In this brand new three part series, he will travel to some of the most remote corners of the world to visit communities living radically different lives to our own. Bruce believes indigenous knowledge and wisdom are needed more than ever. His return to the BBC comes at a time when the world faces unprecedented environmental challenges, millions of tribal people have left their communities and the threats to those who remain are escalating. Against this backdrop, Bruce is visiting three extraordinary communities, diving deep into their traditional ways of life. He is the first foreign visitor to live within each community, and films much of his experience on his own camera. Bruce says: 'It's been over twenty years since Tribe first aired. Living with people who experience the world in such profoundly different ways was eye-opening then, but today it feels vital. I believe we have so much to learn from those who still live in deep connection with the world around them. It feels a huge privilege that the BBC has allowed me to explore these places and themes once again.' In episode one, Bruce visits the Waimaha people, who live on a remote tributary of the Amazon, deep in one of the least accessible regions of the rainforest. After rubber tappers and missionaries nearly destroyed their culture in the 20th Century, Bruce is initially eyed with some suspicion. He wants to learn about the Waimaha's deep understanding of nature that allows them to thrive in such a remote region. In the second episode Bruce ventures deep into the unforgiving Namib desert - only recently accessible after years of civil war and a legacy of landmines. Invited to live with the Mucubal, Bruce is the first white person some of the villagers have ever seen. In a desert that is hot and getting hotter Bruce sees how climate change is affecting life for the Mucubal and their cattle. In episode three, Bruce stays with the residents of the remote paradise island of Sumba in Indonesia. They follow an ancient religion called Marapu where powerful ancestral spirits demand blood sacrifice from its followers. Invited to stay by the priest, Bruce lives in an ancient hilltop village where the houses are constructed amongst megalithic stone tombs of their dead relatives. Tom Coveney, Commissioning Editor, Specialist Factual, says: 'The original trailblazer of immersive documentary-making is back. I'm thrilled Bruce will once again entertain and inspire our viewers with his unquenchable thirst for adventure and infectious curiosity; this series is both a great watch and a chance to learn invaluable lessons at this critical time for our planet.' Jamie Balment, Creative Director, Frank Films, says: 'I'm not sure how, but the years – and too many litres of jungle intoxicants – have not dimmed Bruce's passion and curiosity for those living lives vastly different from our own. The energy and willingness to have a go remains - however extreme the task. Yet his time away has brought a new wisdom, his return has a greater urgency as these communities become ever more precious.' Tribe with Bruce Parry, a 3x60' for BBC Two and iPlayer, is made by Frank Films. It was commissioned by Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual, and the Commissioning Editor is Tom Coveney. The Executive Producer is Jamie Balment, the Series Producer is Alice Henley and the Series Director is Will Lorimer. Global distribution will be handled by Banijay Rights. Notes Twenty years ago Bruce immersed himself with 15 different tribal communities whilst making three groundbreaking series of Tribe, twice nominated for BAFTA Best Factual Series. In 2007 he spent an entire year travelling along the Amazon to explore the forces affecting the world's largest rainforest and its people. Amazon went on to win Bafta Best Factual Series 2009. CT2
