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Solylence combines Senegalese elegance and Parisian chic in her lovely African attire for men and women.
Visit it at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Robben%20Island/123/191/21

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Solylence combines Senegalese elegance and Parisian chic in her lovely African attire for men and women.
Visit it at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Robben%20Island/123/191/21

****Advertisement****

Solylence combines Senegalese elegance and Parisian chic in her lovely African attire for men and women.
Visit it at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Robben%20Island/123/191/21

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This is a preview of an item that will soon be available at cacao! We are gearing up with new African traditional and contemporary styles for men and women, preparing for the grand opening of our new main store on Saminaka later this month! For now, see the Hausa-style building and a few items--much more to come! See it at:

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African music in Second Life--Tamsin Barzane

The recently concluded African Festival on Second Life had many musical moments, thought that was never intended to be its focus. But it proved a maxim, one that Oliha Yiwama mentioned in his talks on both drumming and spiritual traditions--music and dance bring people together, celebration is prayer, the spirit can unite people and make their spirits soar! (well, all right, he said it more eloquently).

We wanted live music and nearly had it in two doses. The very kind Bourque Rau promotes Second Life live music, and did her best to hunt down performers who worked either in African style or something close. She connected me with the very talented Peregrine Singh, who mulled over the possibilities of bringing in musician friends from Gambia and Guinea, and I began to salivate. Real life prevented it, but who knows in future? And if not for sound problems, we would have had master rl drummer Oliha Yiwama bringing us West African rhythms in several traditions, which we trust will still happen in times ahead.

We had three fabulous DJs play African music: HarleyMC Homewood, Blade Unsustainable and Isabelle Mavendorf (Soulman Sands is another tested and true, but unavailable during the festival). Their tastes were all different, and all fabulous--we had Afrobeatphilacs, African house music miners, and plaintive balladeers. Miles Barbasz was feverishly writing down artists' names, and he'd better hand over his list!

We filled the sim (it's a homestead, but I'm convinced it would have been filled even in a full prim)! People tried and tried and finally tped in, that's how good the sound reports were. And they chatted as the fireworks went off and the hips shook--not senseless spamastic gestures, but conversations and spontaneous eruptions of joy. Friendships were forged, and our last night's Best Dressed in African Attire saw a bevy of beauties of both sexes (winners--Blac Quartz and Pietro Eberhardt), dancing under the stars.

One of the best musical events was totally unplanned. I sat in a vendor's stall with Feretian String, just chatting. Oronoque Westland wandered by, and asked if her playing a flute would be annoying. Certainly not! Soon her haunting South American tunes were joined by my Yoruba talking drum and Fere on a standing one--then Oron switched to electric sitar, then guitar and steel pan. We had a jam session that lasted for close to two hours, joined by Solylence Houston, Szvanna Anatra, the others who danced and played. For a while we were the all female Princesses of Percussion (POP)--Fere to thank for that sporty moniker--then were joined by others of the male persuasion.

At times we actually seemed in sync, and a thrill swept over us! I hope scripters make more musical instruments and work in some timing controls, because, as Oliha Yiwama pointed out, this is a great opportunity for those who never had exposure or practice--or skill--to make beautiful music. But we're more than happy to make a joyful noise here!

UNDER THE MANGO TREE--Tamsin Barzane

African fashion!!! Yes, the upcoming African Festival on Saminaka (Oct. 1-4) will include a competition, with prizes going to the best dressed male and female in African attire. While Saminaka sells traditional clothing at Cinnamon Brigade (soon to be folded into our cacao megastore), other excellent finds are available elsewhere in SL, and some will be sold at the booths in our festival market. But what about fashion IN Africa?

Basically African fashionista(o)s fall into four categories: those who follow changing textile fashions but who stick to traditional clothing shapes that change little (the wrapper and buba, the agbada or boubou "big gowns" for men, the men's caftan or dashiki or wrapper), those who wear what foreigners think of as traditional dress, but are really 20th century inventions (the long skirt with overblouse that can vary tremendously over time; the pants/top combos from wax prints for men), those who wear the latest foreign labels, and those who are couturiers, taking ideas and fabrics and transforming them into alta moda, international class Fashion with a capital "F."

This last group has members who have created spectacular looks featured in Paris and Milan, and I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorites, both for her outrageous twists and turns on traditional dress and objects, and for her artistry. Her name is Oumou Sy, an elegant woman in her fifties, and she is based in Dakar, Senegal, but has shown her works to international acclaim in Europe and elsewhere.

Ms. Sy has injected humor as well as beauty into her designs, possibly because she comes from theatrical roots--parlaying them into the foundation of the Dakar Carnival, and International Fashion Week in Dakar. She's always on top of things, creating the first cybercafe in Senegal years ago, along with an enchanting website.

Her stores in Geneva and Paris sell to the ultrafashionable, and she designs for World Music superstars like Youssou n'Dour. She's won the enviable couture Prince Claus award, as well as the French government's Legion d'Honneur.

Her designs sometimes inject matting, or small calabash gourds, or other items not usually combined with clothing, including masks and musical instruments.

When she takes an ethnic group as inspiration, her riffs are often awe-inspiring. A silver Tuareg item becomes aggrandized into a breastplate and helmet, or a gold Fulani earring becomes a sleeve.

Sy has not limited herself to the elegant fashions of her home area, but draws on inspiration from the entire continent--whether through materials (a lovely series of feathered gowns), textiles or accessories.

Sy's inventiveness and theatricality remind me of her age-mate Julie Taymore, the director and costumier who shaped Broadway's Lion King, as well as the films Titus, Frida, and the upcoming Spiderman, the Musical. With Sy's involvement in projects in partnership with her filmmaker husband Michel Mavros, such as the exciting Sahel Opera project (which he directs), perhaps her eye will turn in future to projects similar to Taymor's, injecting a new vision into art forms we are more familiar with.

And if her interests keep you more firmly rooted in couture? Then we have much to ahead to, since her own imagination and the visual resources of the continent seem inexhaustible. I guarantee you cacao's haute couture division is likely to feel the Sy excitement and figure out ways to absorb her magical touch with fabric's and fashion.

See some catwalk videos of Oumou Sy's work here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeiXgcDkVpI

and here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BotvDlSpbA