Joy of Dancing: Bihu from Assam

picture credits: here.

The Rongali Bihu is the festival of the Assamese New Year which falls in mid-April. It also marks the arrival of Assamese New Year(around April 15). Through this festival, which stretches for several days, the Assamese people welcome the season of seed sowing and pray for a great harvest. During the festival Bihu dance is performed by both young men and young women. The dance is performed accompanied by Bihu folk music based on love theme which are generally dominated by men, though there are songs that are sung by women as well, Bihu dance is characterized by quick dance movements, swift hand steps and rhythmic swaying of the hips.The dance is performed on folk songs known as Bihu Songs. Pepa a flute made of buffalo horns), dhol (a drum), tala (a cymbal), gogona (a bamboo instrument) and toka (a bamboo clapper) are the instruments used in these songs. Different tribes have made slight variation in the dance and have named it after their tribe like Garo Bihu Dance, and Khasi Bihu Dance.
The movements of the Bihu dance draw from many traditions - Indo-Aryan, Austro-Asiatic and Sino-Burmese.

 picture credit: here.

In the picture above girls are dancing with colourful straw hats called jaapi. Jaapi (Assamese: জাপি) is a traditional Assamese headgear or hat of Assam, India. Jaapi is made of tightly woven bamboo and/or cane and tokou paat (Trachycarpus martianus) a large palm leaf. Simpler hats are worn by the farmers for protection from the sun.



 Gaamkharu is a traditional Assamese ornament used by female bihu dancers made of Silver.

The costume of the male dancers is called dhoti and gamocha. Women wear Chadar Mekhale, two pieces of fabric draped around the body. Usually it is made of one of the very appreciated Assamese silks or of cotton with woven geometrical patterns. Read an amazing article on the silk production in Sualkuchi here.


picture credit: here.


sources: here, here and here.

Pictures by Edgar Nolte.
I have tried to learn this dance, above you can se some snaps from a performance.

View some beautiful bihu songs and dance videos:

 

Afghanistan Everywhere: Grand Bazaar

Irresistible.
credits:
Photography by Begum Yetis
Styling by Dilara Fındıkoglu
Hair by Tayfun Kaydok
Makeup by Ufuk Celep
Model Kat Cordts @ Joy Models Istanbul

found via: theones2watch

Joy of Dancing: Anar Dana DVD Release

It arrived yesterday ... and I just had  to flip through the beautiful dances of the DVD to soak in the beauty immediately... like a yummy variety of fruits on a silver tray there are traditional and little know dances from a large number of places between North Africa and India, either performed by the Anar Dana group or by Helene herself, in carefully handsewn costumes - a feast for every lover of authentic dances of the East!
Featuring dances from:
Baluchistan, Rajasthan, Algeria, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Iran, the West Sahara, Morocco and Kurdistan.
I have written in a previous post about my beloved teacher Helene Eriksen and I simply can not get enough of her art!
If you love traditional Eastern dancing don't miss this opportunity, you can order the DVD at: mail@helene-eriksen.de.

Boro: And A Story of White and Blue

My new passion regarding Japanese (Folk) Art is a technique to recycle and to reuse tattered cloth. The aspect that, in my eyes, makes these pieces for everyday-use so singular is the combination of extremely simple material and the wide range of possibilities experienced in the use of used cloth and simple repeating stitches.

Boro is a Japanese word meaning “tattered rags” and it’s the term frequently used to describe lovingly patched and repaired cotton bedding and clothing.
The frugal Japanese woman repaired the family’s sleeping futon covers and noragi (farm clothing) again and again by “boro” patching fabric scraps over thin areas and holes in the fabric. Adding sashiko sewing to the repair gave greater strength to the material. Today international collectors regard boro textiles as uniquely Japanese and striking examples of a bygone and lost folk craft.

At a time when Japan was struggling to recover from the devastation of the second World War, the Japanese regarded boro textiles with great shame. These utilitarian textiles served as an open reminder of Japan's impoverished past. Now these same textiles are cherished and collected for the stories they tell and the windows they open into Japanese folk culture and history.

Kimonoboy is an online-shop based in Japan which offers an incredible variety of boro and other cloth and garments. All the pics are from there.

Another remarkable site is Srithreads. You can also buy here and you can find a lot of fascination information on Japanes and Indian Textile Art.

Eastern Glances: Kenzo Spring 2011

I have been following Selyas' wonderful blog "Chaikhana" quita a long time. So as usual I hopped across her and was left breathless by these pictures - how could I not share that!
Company founder Kenzo Takada, a Japanese born designer, coined an ethno oriented look with flat patterns like those used for Kimonos. 2003 Sardinian Designer Antonio Marras took over, and the new collection shows a deep interest in rich oriental textiles and a completely non-western feminine ideal.

Multiple layered gowns in precious handpainted silks, damast and kelim recall carefully adorned brides, whose beauty shows rather in elegant postures than in a tight-fitting silhouette.



























Sophisticated constructions of cloth-adorned hats with tassels and fringes add a feeling of a crown and the whole impression is that of a cute doll. Turbans are knotted above a felt fez and Central Asian Suzani embroidery is combined with handwoven wool fabrics in earth tones.
I imagine those models walking majestically in their wonderful costumes, slowly, like silkworms in their multilayered coloured robes.



























For a completely different styling there are also artistically free form crocheted or lingerie inspired robes for fantasy or neo-Victorian princesses dressed in fancy treasures from an ancient dowry chest.
I'll come back often to contemplate those wonderful images dreaming of myself stitching and wearing such a dress... ;-)