Traditional Clothing

[robbiejonesmusic]

I was wondering what is the traditional clothing for a performance

[michi]

Not a meaningful question without more context. It varies with the occasion and ethnic group. But, generally speaking, anything goes with Malinke people. The more colorful, the better

Browse a bunch of YouTube videos of performances in Africa (the Video section on this board is a good start), and you'll quickly get an idea.

Cheers,

Michi.

[robbiejonesmusic]

I am from Michigan, I am going to begin playing for a popular american rap musician but i wanted to wear traditional clothing on stage

[Afoba]

Hi Robbie,

"traditional clothing for a performance" is a kind of contradiction.

Drummers normally don't wear special clothes for traditional fêtes (there are some exceptions like the village of Baro and these special performance hats for djembé players, but this comes from ballets to villages, I think).
So you could look for what is common for wearing during (modern) performances, or you could look for traditional clothing, that's to say wide trousers and shirts with open sides for example.
Of course we could discuss, if a dress of Eto'o or Ronaldo is traditional now... (I'd say it is, in a way).

Greets, dp

[Garvin]

I am from Michigan, I am going to begin playing for a popular american rap musician but i wanted to wear traditional clothing on stage

Where're you at in MI? Who're you opening for? I'd love to check it out....

My attitude about the clothes thing has always been fairly self-conscious. I had a great discussion with a dancer friend of mine recently about this. I'm a white dude (don't mean to turn this into one of those threads) and as much as I love the music, I've always felt like the more gussied up I see non-Africans, the more odd it looks (to me). I'm involved in this music because it makes me feel a force of personal, musical and artistic evolution that I don't get from anything else. It informs a lot of my other playing. While I'm respectful of the culture and tradition, I'm not trying to become a part of it, or co-opt it into a part of my "identity". Maybe my attitude makes me less prone to dressing up. I'd rather not, but if I'm in a dance performance, I usually borrow a mudcloth shirt or something.

That said, I do understand that the American groups (and other non-African groups) who do perform in full regalia are in fact bringing a lot in terms of education and demonstration in their performances and the dresscode is essential in those cases. I just don't feel like my involvement is at that level. I've been around it before, but that's not my gig.

But at the end of the day, it is really just about sporting some different threads. As long as it covers your junk, I suppose it really doesn't matter.

[Dugafola]

Hi Robbie,


Of course we could discuss, if a dress of Eto'o or Ronaldo is traditional now... (I'd say it is, in a way).

Greets, dp

hahah...yes!

[rachelnguyen]

I suppose this has a lot to do with who you are playing with.

If you are playing with Africans, you can look to them for direction. At one event, they lent me a vest that matched the rest of the bands. Usually I wear american clothes, but accent it with an african piece of jewelry or something.

For our big drum and dance festival, I always wear an African dress. I have a collection of them, most of which were given to me by African friends, so I look forward to opportunities to wear them.

[Dugafola]

the white sacrifice shirts are also worn...but not w/ performing in mind typically.

they are called sakafani ("fani" is cloth, so sacrifice cloth) or konoworrofila ("kono" is piece, worrofila is 7. it's normally made from 7 pieces of cloth) in malinke.