Sahar El-Bahr remembers the sometimes forgotten crafts of traditional folk art The arts are often related to geography or place, and traditional folk art has long captivated people worldwide. Though Egypt has distinct cultural areas, each with its own subculture reflected in different forms of art, the preservation of these unique forms of art has often hinged on individual efforts rather than on public support. However, folk heritage is not only reminiscent of the past. It is also productive and should be integrated into economic planning. While due to narrow marketing opportunities, such forms of art can tend to be expensive, depending on foreign buyers, this should not stop everyone from taking an interest in them. Some examples of traditional crafts are given below. EMBROIDERY: In Egypt the art of brocading textiles with silver and gold threads is one of the country's oldest decorative crafts. It was practised in Egypt in the Pharaonic period, and it later flourished under Islam when renowned artisans produced priceless masterpieces. By the Ottoman period, the art of embroidery had spread from Egypt throughout the Ottoman empire. Egyptian women used to decorate handkerchiefs, cushions, scarves, aprons, dresses, curtains and other materials with qasab, or ornamental thread, working at home using familiar motifs like birds, plants and fruit. Qasab was also used to ornament the kiswah, the cover of the Holy Kaaba, that Egypt long sent to Mecca. According to the 19th-century British writer Edward Lane in his Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, the kiswah was made of coarse black brocade covered with inscriptions of passages from the Quran and interwoven with silk of the same colour with a broad band across each side. Qasab was also used to decorate official uniforms and the suits of ministers, pashas, ambassadors and other dignitaries. These clothes had Arabic designs on the chest, sleeves, collar and even the belt. The patterns differed according to the social rank of the person who wore them. During World War II, embroidery with qasab flourished as a result of its use in making military badges and emblems. Today, however, the artisans who carry on such tradition complain that this kind of embroidery will soon die out. "We only have eight skilled craftspersons left," warns Ahmed Osman, owner of a workshop at Khan Al-Khalili bazaar in Cairo. Osman, who inherited the craft and workshop some 70 years ago, says that his products are too expensive for many clients because the thread and velvet used are imported from France and Germany. The price of the finished pieces is not only due to the cost of the materials, however. The techniques used are the result of long years of training, and they need talent, perseverance, patience, piercing eyes and highly sensitive hands. "To meet the requisites of the qasab one has to love it dearly," Osman adds. According to Osman's brother Mohamed, an artisan needs to work for at least 10 years in order to have the skills required to produce a masterpiece. "It takes 10-11 hours on 10 consecutive working days to produce a metre-long piece of qasab," he says. Ahmed also mentions that the brothers no longer train artisans from outside their family, because outside artisans sometimes have spent only a few months training before they set up their own workshops and produce lower-quality pieces. They work too fast with cheap materials to earn more money in a shorter time, he claims. "Their pieces are certainly cheaper than ours, but they are far from perfect," he adds. Many clients are not qualified to detect genuine work, and the government has a duty to help the industry by organising exhibitions inside and outside Egypt. While Ahmed complains that his children encourage him to leave the craft and work in a more profitable business to meet the increasing cost of living, he is keen on preserving the history and heritage of his grandfathers, who also worked on embroidering the kiswah. "Up till now I have resisted their calls. But I don't know how much longer I can hold on," he says. MELAYA LAFF: In many countries traditional costumes are symbols of rank and wealth, and in others it is considered the height of fashion to affect an "ethnic" look. This might mean in Egypt wearing the once-celebrated melaya laff, a veil of suggestive see-through black material that urban women used to wear. A melaya laff is two metres long and four metres wide, and it was once worn by many shaabi Egyptian women, since it was intended to conceal the shape of the women's figure behind a cloak of modesty. Many writers, poets, composers and artists have been inspired by the melaya. The famous Egyptian painter Mahmoud Said depicted it in his work, for example, including in his work Banat Bahari. In his book on Egyptian folklore, Hassan Suleiman wrote of "the Alexandrian girl who, wearing the melaya laff, feels confident as she notices the eyes of admirers following her. She wears the melaya about her shoulders and gathers its edges femininely, elegantly and quickly." In his dictionary of Egyptian customs and traditions, intellectual Ahmed Amin describes the melaya laff as being worn by middle and lower-class woman. But in the past such Egyptian women managed to transform the garment into an article of beauty, tightening it artistically around their bodies. Many women had their own special way of wearing it, using it to express their personalities. The large size of the cloth offers many possibilities: longer, shorter, wider and tighter. The usual way of wearing the melaya is to hold the material extended across the back, then place the right edge all the way to the front and under the left arm. The left edge is held under the right arm, while it passes across the left shoulder, covering it and leaving the right shoulder uncovered for freedom of movement. Two kinds of fabrics are used in manufacturing the melaya laff, one having a shiny, satiny texture and the other plain black. The latter type was mostly worn by older women. In past times the melaya was called the sandouk al-sit (lady's box), and it had two ribbons sewn inside it to allow for better control of the garment. Gradually, women devised more alluring ways of wearing the wrap to reveal the finery they were wearing underneath. At the bottom of the melaya gold or silver coins were sometimes sewn, originally to warn people in the streets that a woman was passing by. These later become fashionable items in their own right and have been replaced by plastic substitutes. According to a study by Sania Khamis, professor of fashion and textiles at Helwan University, the origins of the melaya laff may be found in the himation, worn by the ancient Greeks. Such antique fashions influenced what was worn in many Mediterranean countries, and the first melayas seem to have appeared in Alexandria. These melaya replaced an earlier style of dress, the habara, a black garment consisting of two separate pieces worn at the beginning of the 19th century. In one of his books, the Egyptian writer Saad El-Khadem notes that the habara developed into melaya in the first half of the last century, the original design being improved according to the needs and development of society. Alexandrian women also once had their own way of wearing the melaya to reveal the arms and neck. Perhaps because they had to deal with people of various nationalities who understood little Arabic, they had to free their hands to express themselves. It goes without saying that women did not wear the melaya inside their houses. The Al-Ghorai district was once famous for selling melayat, these being made in Damietta, where the first factories were established to produce them more 80 years ago.
