Arena — Season 1, Episode 431: An Argentinian Journey: 3: Pacha Mama - Sacred Land
Documentary • 90 min • 3 seasons, 689 episodes • ★ 7.2/10
Episode synopsis
The Calchaquies valleys in the Andes and the Humahuaca canyon form the most underdeveloped and remote region in Argentina, with traditions going back beyond the Inca conquest. The far north with its small mountain villages like Molinos and Cachi is more closely linked to Bolivia and Peru than to the rest of the country. The people of the mountains say their music can be described simply as the "man with the drum". Every year they celebrate a carnival devoted to the honour of Pacha Mama , the Goddess of the Earth. Legend has it that the mountain people were once told "You are the lord of the land", to which they replied "No, sir, we are the sons and daughters of the land".
About Arena
Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. Voted by leading TV executives in Broadcast as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has run since 1 October 1975 with over five hundred episodes made, directed by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Alan Yentob, Roly Keating, Frederick Baker, Volker Schlondorff and Vikram Jayanti. Arena's subjects are a roll-call of the world's best known cultural figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, from singers Bob Dylan and Amy Winehouse to academics Edward Said and Eric Hobsbawm, from writers Jean Genet and V S Naipaul to artists Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois. The current series editor is Anthony Wall.