Response to Phoenix's question re: Men and Henna
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Posted by Roy on April 02, 1998 at 20:41:17:
Phoenix queried me by e-mail the other day about the source of my remarks in the thread on male henna traditions. I only had time for a quick answer then, so I thought I'd expand on my response here on the forum. Part of what little I know comes from experience right here in the US. I studied ethnomusicology as a sideline when I was an undergrad at UCLA many years ago. The student ensembles from the institute were much in demand among the various ethnic communities in southern California, because in those days, we were often the best or the only source of trained musicians who could play the appropriate traditional music, so we would sometimes find ourselves at all sorts of gatherings where we had the opportunity to meet and talk to people from places we'd only read about in books and picked up bits of culture they didn't teach in the lecture halls. Also, our instructors came from all over the world, and we learned lots of traditions from them, both in the classroom and in other settings as well. As far as formal booklearning goes, a good source of reliable scholarship on men's use of henna is "Marriage Customs in Morocco" by Edward Westermark. He goes into great detail on traditions among many of the Moroccan tribes, including their use of henna as a cosmetic, a magical protectant, and as a gift exchanged among betrothed couples. It's the North African henna traditions that interest me the most, and I hope to spend some time later this year digging for more material to expand the booklet we wrote earlier this year. I'm especially curious about the magical traditions, songs, folklore and language associated with henna in that part of the world. Those of you who have tried library searches for sources already know how dificult it can be to find enough good material. I have the good fortune to have a part-time teachng gig at a local university that has library links all over the state and a good computer driven search tool, so I have a rich hunting ground to work in. I suspect there are other good books lurking in the social science sections like the Westermark book that hadn't been checked out in thirty years. For good pix, there's always good old National Geographic. The May '95 issue has a shot of an Omani woman's hands, and there's a good photo and some text on the painting of a Tuareg bridegroom in the February '98 issue. Part of what got me started was music, so let me add a couple of interesting sidelights: The CD "Passion Sources," Peter Gabriel's compilation of source material for his score for "The Last Temptation of Christ" has a bit of Moroccan wedding music, and there's a more contemporary henna song on one of the CD's in the "Global Celebration" series. Not much time to think about henna at the moment...I'm studying for my Novell certs. But I'll pass along any interesting sources I turn up.
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