Day 12 (May 30)

Contributed by: John Yatsko

The ceremony was electric. We could hear the drums and chants from a half mile off. We felt like royalty as they escorted us to the front row of chairs under a shade awning. The Yuan people surrounded the entertainment, a thousand deep. Across the wide circle of villagers sat the elders of the community. One by one, they introduced themselves and thanked us personally for our efforts. Most didn't speak English, but the sincerity in their eyes said enough.

David began by introducing each of the ten of us to the crowd. Every introduction was followed by uproarious cheers. Many of the upstanding members of the community commended us for our efforts and urged the people to support our needs for the project. The “Elders” of our group were then presented with custom made scarfs, handwoven by the people of yua. Pictured below is Professor Trotta (Prof Prof) with his sheepish grin. The ceremony was then opened up to all the performing groups that had anxiously awaited our arrival.

One after another, the singing groups danced their way around the circle. One group of girls from the junior high school actually wrote us a song and performed it in front of everyone. At the end of each performance, the singing groups would form a smaller circle in front of us and then throw down in a “dance off.” It was incredible to watch. The groups would begin with a steady clap before breaking it down to a fast paced rhythm that I could reproduce if I tried. People from all around would jump into the circle and begin dancing violently. Everyone did this. Elders would dive in and rival the intensity of the youngsters. A few brave members of our own crew even jumped in and threw down. The crowd exploded.

As a musician myself, I found the drummers particularly impressive. They would put my high school drum line to shame. Their style was so abstract, for the life of me I couldn't figure out how they stayed together. They didn't appear to be counting or following any repetitive pattern. They just felt it. Their was no beginning or end to it; even when they left the circle, we could hear them in the distance. The sound of drums carried through the night air. We could hear them from Sirigu that night as we went to sleep.