Lifestyle, Arts & Culture: Happy Women's Month!
“When sleeping women wake, mountains move” is an African proverb that we celebrate. And this month, we’re definitely in celebration mode. The frequency is feminism and the dress code is: “wear uniquely you!”
In honour of that, below we showcase a sample collection of some of the sights, sounds, scents, tastes and textures from The Motherland, by women who have inspired us and who will continue to do so, this month and beyond. Enjoy!
She Groups to Conquer.
The Collective, a beautiful spot on Monrovia Street in Nairobi, whose triple bottom line – art, music and food- cannot be compromised for Senegalese co-founder, Aicha Mano. A lawyer-turned restauranteur who has travelled the world, Mane wants her haven to appeal to the senses: “Beautiful food uplifts a dull mood. Music has the same magical effect. We want our patrons to be pleasured by the triple effect of food, art and music[1]”. The décor alone will leave you feeling uplifted and if you’re a lady who loves to lunch, then maybe the typical Senegalese chicken yassa– Mano’s favourite – could well be food for the soul.
C’mon, Vogue.
A lady who definitely has soul is the celebrated Kenyan percussionist, Kasiva Mutua. Her performance of “Pamoja” at the Asheville Percussion Festival in the US is dripped layer upon layer with syncopated rhythms, so much so, that dancing adowa, agbadzaor indeed any way the beat takes you, is non-negotiable. Mutua has beaten back the naysayers and broken through the stigma around female drumming in Kenya, where it has long been considered an art-form for the preserve of men. But Mutua, having been inspired by the spirit of everyday sounds of her homeland since infancy, now teaches percussion to children as well as to women, because “women can be custodians of culture too[2]”.
Texture & Textiles
The imprint of Ethiopian culture is emblazoned onto the eclectic homewares collection of interior designer, Hana Getachew of Bole Road Textiles. The Addis-born, American-raised designer describes her brand as “modern designs inspired by ancient weaving traditions passed down through the generations to today’s master local artisans, with a modern global aesthetic[3]”. Getachew’s collections are only made possible by the mastery of women weavers from the southern Dorze and Konso ethnic groups in Ethiopia. A firm favourite of ours is the Omo Valley Collection. A steady grey bedspread would be tickled by the beautiful splashes of the collection’s pink pastels and bold blues. The collection is sweet, uplifting and spells decadence on your duvet!
Brown Skin Girl.
Breaking through and staying the course are themes that Zeze Oriaikhi-Sao knows about, having first launched her Malee brand a decade ago. The natural beauty skincare range is “inspired by the rich landscapes, alluring scents and ancient wisdom of Africa” and was birthed at the intersection of difficulty and opportunity. At the height of the UK recession in 2009, Oriaikhi-Sao left the UK for South Africa and decided to pursue a life-long “passion for lotions and potions, combined with a love of fragrances…”. Spotting a gap in the market, Nigerian born Oriaikhi-Sao loves to blend scents such as crisp mint, patchouli and spicy pepper to bring both your skin and your room alive with oils and fragrances that pay homage to Africa.
Waters Run Deep.
The 100 Wells of Salaga by Ghanaian author, Ayesha Haruna Attah, now residing in Senegal, is appropriately named. It is historical and complex - Salaga was a commercial trading centre in 19thcentury, pre-colonial, northern Ghana. The 100 wells refer to the process of washing slaves before they were sold. Attah’s narrative is a wellspring of often hidden and uncomfortable truths around the transatlantic slave-trade and Africa’s role within it. The literary confidence with which Attah writes is confirmed in the fact that this is her third novel and her almost poetic prose leaves us marvelling at how such a contemporary writer can transport the reader into the past, with such ease.
[1]https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/lifestyle/profiles/A-lawyer-who-owns-The-Collective-Restaurant/4258438-5434794-522b38/index.html
[2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V84b-WIlNA0
[3]https://boleroadtextiles.com/pages/philosophy
[4]https://www.evasonaike.com/blogs/evasonaikeblog/eva-sonaike-on-third-culture-africans-podcast