while watching the discovery channel I saw a documentary called the "Weeping Camel". The story takes place in the Gobi Desert, located in Nothern China,& Mongolia.It is a land that few people can live on an proably one that no one wants. Although it is called a dessert it doesnb't look very warm. The people who live there are an amazing group. They raise sheep and camel, and depend on this stock for thier very existence. The familys live together in small tent like structures.( hang on I'm gonna get to the good part). There is a small town not too far away, nor is it very close at all. AS you can imangine they haven't changed in a 1000 years, and are a most beautiful and uniqe people, a couple of families even have a TV set. although
the tv is not a good thing for these people and most deni themselves of it.
Now for the good part.As I said they raised camel. One of the female camel
had a fold, yet she refused to allow the babby to feed.., and had to be hobbeled to keep it ,the mother from running away. Something had to be done or the fold would perrish and the mother would not be much use to the families survival. The family knew exactly what had to be done and was not the least bit concerned over this problem. BY the way this entire douvmentary was done with one or two hand held cameras.The family sent to the city for a musician. In good time the musician arrived. He had been brought in on a motorcycle. Frist the musician and the family went indoor's to share light conversation, drink tea, and share leven bead. The Musician pulled a small bottel out of his pocket and shared the contents with the family, this act was almost covered up and could be easily missed. I saw one of the older boys apply the substance to his nose. They then went outside where the camel had been brought . The fold knew not of what to do and the mother was upset. The musician sat on a rock a pulled a stringed instrument from his soft case. It had a bow and 2 strings, and reminded me of a balika. First they took a piece of blue cloth and tied it to the instrument like a strap. Then they placed the instrument on the mother camels hump leaving the instrument making contact to the camels hump. The mother was still upset.then as the wind began to blow the strings on the instrument began to resonate. These vibrations were both felt and heard by the mother camel. The most amazing thing began to happen. The mother began to calm down and began to ,in away sing along with the sound. This may be reaching but the effect was clear to see. The sound remminded me of " the 60 cycle hum " a sound found in more places that our amps. By this time the whole family had gathered round and sat were they could to watch what seemed to me a minor miricale..The next thing the musician did was remove th instrument from the camel hump, He then began to play a simple melody with his bow on the instrument. Then the oldest daughter began to sing and stroke the mother camel. Soon the fold began to react and began to try and feed with little to no objection from the mother,soon the mother began to encourage the fold to feed. The music and singing stopped. The fold and the mother doing thier thing together. The mother accepted the the fold now and it was easy to see that all was well now.I found this to be a STRONG testement to the conecitive though unseen tissue between sound and living things.I hope someone finds this to be of intrest.JIM