Post-minimalist Composition and African Textiles ?

From an interview with the South African born composer Kevin Volans who will be featured at this years Edinburgh Festival. Entire interview here

"Progress is not a word that applies: there are no themes, no motifs, no development, no repetition and no recapitulation. It’s a non-developmental piece in that it operates in the same kind of space from beginning to end."

That could suggest minimalism, but Volans is not a minimalist composer; though there are some pieces in his oeuvre, in some of his 10 string quartets or the utterly mesmerising, which might seduce the innocent ear into thinking it was hearing a form of minimalism.

So with the litany of symphonic elements absent from the score, is the music of his new piece going to be static? "No. The images change; the focus changes. It might focus more on a complex texture, then on tone colour, then more on some kind of rhythmic structure."

The seminal inspiration behind the construction of the piece doesn’t lie in music at all. "It’s akin more to African textiles than musical models. They were the reason I had to give up serialism as a way of ordering music. They are very virtuosic textiles, woven by the men then embroidered by the women.

"They use a very dramatic method of contrasting different forms of patterning, from left to right, right to left, down to up and up to down; and they also use broken patterning. So the patterns are irregular, and there is great virtuosity in their use of irregularity within the patterning."

There is a well established literature on “offbeat” patterning in African textiles and possible links to music but Volan’s comments may provide a further dimension. He seems to be talking here about Kuba cloths from Congo but his insights are equally applicable to many other types of African textile design. Below I have posted a few of our own “post minimal” pieces. These are all sold but if this type of cloth is of interest please contact me. Click on the photos for larger images.

	Ewe woman’s cloth, Ghana, circa 1920-50
	Abron/Koulango womans cloth, Bondoukou region, Cote D’Ivoire, circa 1920-50
	Asante or Ewe woman’s cloth, Ghana, circa 1920-50
	Detail of Yoruba woman’s cloth, Nigeria, circa 1920s
	Abron/Koulango womans cloth, Bondoukou region, Cote D’Ivoire, circa 1920-50
	Detail of Asante men’s kente cloth, Ghana, circa 1920s

Wearing African Textiles – part two

Postcard captioned “The members of the Gold Coast cabinet, 17 July 1956.” (Department of Information Services, Accra) (Author’s collection.) Click on photos for larger view.

Silk Asante kente, 1950s. For more Asante kente we have for sale click here.

New address for our website – adireafricantextiles.com

Unique early C20th man’s wrap from Bondoukou region, Cote D’Ivoire. Image © Duncan Clarke

After almost 15 years online our old web address at adire.clara.net will no longer function. Over the past ten days I have transferred the entire site to www.adireafricantextiles.com . Please revise any bookmarks or links you have been kind enough to make to the site. Any of you who have not yet seen our online galleries of vintage African textiles and associated information resources are invited to take a look and we welcome any comments.

“Under African Skies” – quilting exhibition in York

A Quilt and Textile Exhibition curated by Magie Relph for The Quilt Museum and Gallery in York, 10 July to 16 October 2010 – features quilts made from and inspired by African fabrics.

“African Odyssey III by Janice Gunner, UK. This quilt was inspired by a present from Magie Relph - a piece of Indigo and kola nut fabric with a large tied circular motif in the centre. I just had to use it in a quilt, but I needed more fabrics to go with it. Another collection was born! Machine pieced, hand and machine quilted. Cotton and polyester wadding. Cotton, rayon invisible and metallic threads. 121 x 100 cm “

More information here

Updates on our website today – vintage Yoruba textiles

Click pictures for description and larger view.

C19th indigo cotton and magenta silk

Very rare C19th woman’s wrapper cloth

Unique design, mid-C20th wrapper

Natural beige wild silk

Circa 1900 mixed strip hand spun cotton & indigo

Wearing African Textiles – part one of an occasional series

Vintage postcard, circa 1920s – “Costume, S. Vincente, Cabo Verde.”	Vintage indigo dyed textile, pano cha, circa 1920-50, Cabo Verde.

Click on the photos to enlarge – please do not reproduce without permission.

A Wolof weaver on Goree island, 1844

Although this sketch in the French National Archives is not the earliest depiction of a West African weaver it is exceptionally detailed and clear for a nineteenth century source. It was drawn by Isidore Hedde (1801-1880) a ribbon manufacturer from St. Etienne whose boat paused in Senegal on route to China as part of a French diplomatic mission. Undoubtedly Hedde’s own background in weaving contributed to the attention he paid to depicting the key loom components. The weaver is described as a slave and griot, although it seems likely, to me at least, that “slave” is Hedde’s gloss on the complex and anomalous status of weavers and other craftspeople in Senegambian societies. The drawing is accompanied by an important letter that describes at some length his observations on textile production in Goree at that date, including the surprising fact that there were 114 weavers on the small island. Click here to see more details.

By way of comparison, here is a Senegalese weaver depicted on an old postcard, dating from about 1905, by Charles Fortier (author’s collection.)