‘Buzkashi is a brutal sport that dates back to Genghis Khan. These Tajikistan players are trying to grab the body of a goat and drop it over a goal line. It’s every man for himself – and games can last six hours’
I
can’t remember where I first read about buzkashi. Played across central Asia, the sport is thought to date back to the time of Genghis Khan. It involves large groups of men on horseback trying to grab the headless body of a goat and keep control of it long enough to drop it over a line marked on the ground. There are no teams, it’s every man for himself, and games can last six hours.
My projects often involve heightened colour, but when I decided I wanted to get back to the basics of light and tone and do a black and white series, this subject seemed to fit. A lot of the buzkashi footage I’d found was from Tajikistan, so I went there, hiring a local fixer to help deal with the logistics as news of the time and place of matches tends to travel by word of mouth just a few days in advance.
The first game I went to was the biggest – about 300 riders at its peak. Tajikistan is 93% mountains, so matches are staged in the folds of valleys, or in dried riverbeds where there’s some natural geography to contain the play. It never really does, though, and spectators often have to scatter as riders scythe through the crowd. The “goal” lines can be the length of two football pitches apart, with the direction of the pack alternating each time someone scores. Those who score win a prize, with the value increasing as the game goes on – I’ve seen people claim carpets, a camel, even a car, so as the match progresses, more players join in.
