Origin of the tasseled tribal belt?

Farasha Hanem

New member
Kashmir's last post about the origin of the coin belt in the ghawazee thread got me to wondering, what is the origin of the tasseled hip belts Tribal dancers wear? And, are the "authentic" tassels made of a particular yarn? Seems like I remember reading in an online store that "real" Tribal tassels are made of a particular (and expensive) yarn, but I don't know if it's true, or just a marketing ploy. :think:
 

walladah

New member
I am not sure that the tassels we see on ATS belts

are the same with tassels we see in genuine central asian or anatolian headpieces and belts.

To the best of my knowledge, they are not!

Many times the central asian and anatolian tassels are made out of special fabric, embroidered as it is, and/or beads... i mean, they make yarn of beads.

I have also found some weaved wool ribbons where the tassels at the end are made out of original animal hair, and they are beautiful. THis is anatolian, i found it in istanbul. The ribbons are used to decorate headpieces but i used them to make a tribal belt.

It is true that the tassels i see on ATS costumes are usually too big and and too fluffy... sometimes i wonder whether they are just tassels which have no relation to traditional clothing....
 

nitewindz

New member
People all over the world have decorated things with tassels from the time they first figured out how to spin yarn.

In the Middle East, there is a strict difference between tassels made for animals and tassels made for people. No one would ever wear an animal tassel like a camel harness, or something. It would be considered just plain wrong. But people did and still do wear tassels that were made to be worn by people (not animals).

Orientalist paintings are not authentic representations, but the do provide clues to how people really dressed. Scroll down a bit here & you'll see an image of two girls dancing, with braided rope belts. Orientalist Art Page One

When Jamila Salimpour established Bal Anat, she wanted costumes with a folkloric feel to fit in at the Renaissance Faire. She drew on her background of Circus performance and inspiration from photos in National Geographic and orientalist paintings to create the look.

Some interesting old wives tales thrived in the days before the internet. One was that after wandering desert nomads set up camp for the night, the women would take the tassels that the camels wore during the day, put them on, and dance around the campfire :)

As for fiber authenticity. Well, by the time people were wearing tassel belts for belly dance, we already had man made fibers like acrylic and polyester. However, if you want to make a tassel that could "authentically" be from a particular time and place, you'll want to choose a fiber that is native to the area. For example, in the Middle East, people have used linen and wool from sheep and camels for thousands of years. Silk was an exotic, and expensive, import. Llama and alpaca wool was unheard of before Europeans "discovered" the Americas. But, IMHO, the look and feel of the tassel is more important that the actual fiber
 
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Ariadne

Well-known member
Kashmir's last post about the origin of the coin belt in the ghawazee thread got me to wondering, what is the origin of the tasseled hip belts Tribal dancers wear?

Tassel belts are authentic just not the way we make them now. Originally they were sewn onto long strips of ribbon that could then flutter about with the movements. I have no idea about what fibers they would have used. The ones in the picture look like they might be silk. At the very least they're of a rather fine fiber.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
Some interesting old wives tales thrived in the days before the internet. One was that after wandering desert nomads set up camp for the night, the women would take the tassels that the camels wore during the day, put them on, and dance around the campfire :)

:lol:

This belongs in the Wishtory thread, Nitewindz! May I share it there or would you like to do so?
 

Farasha Hanem

New member
Does look like Farasha!

View attachment 5811

WOW, y'all are RIGHT! :shok::shok::shok:

Thank you all for the information you are sharing. I know that Bellydance at Ren Faires has no authenticity, but I've been curious about how some of the costuming for "folkloric/fakeloric" dance came about. So, Jamila Salimpour had something to do with coming up with costumes for bellydancers at Ren Faires? Is this the same Jamila Salimpour who is Suhaila's mother? :think:
 
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Marya

Member
WOW, y'all are RIGHT! :shok::shok::shok:

Thank you all for the information you are sharing. I know that Bellydance at Ren Faires has no authenticity, but I've been curious about how some of the costuming for "folkloric/fakeloric" dance came about. So, Jamila Salimpour had something to do with coming up with costumes for bellydancers at Ren Faires? Is this the same Jamila Salimpour who is Suhaila's mother? :think:


yes and yes. I was told by one of my teachers that Jamila was the first to "invent" the tassel belt as we now know it.

Marya
 

Farasha Hanem

New member
That's very interesting. Is there a biography of Jamila Salimpour's life? She told bits about herself in the American Bellydancer documentary, but I'd like to learn more about her.

I read somewhere that a certain person invented the coin hip scarf in the '70's, but I'm not sure how true that is, and am a bit afraid to say who because I don't want my guts turned into garters in case I read wrong. :confused: So, who DID invent the coin hip scarf? :confused:
 

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
You guys .. no. Jamila did not "invent" the tassel belt.

And yes, Jamila is the mother of Suhaila.

The tassel thing is LARGELY a creation of Masha and Carolena -- much later than Bal Anat (the original troupe.) It was not a part of the costuming for Bal Anat -- except for something dancers doing the "Tunisian" set wore. Those weren't really tassels, but just the ends of the wool belts worn around the meleya, and sort of tucked in on the sides over the hips. The Bal Anat revival troupe does sometimes wear ATS-style tassels, but that's from the 80s-90s.

In The Tribal Bible, Kajira goes to great lengths to "justify" Tribal dancers wearing them, which I think is a little silly, honestly. The tassels function as movement extenders, and help show off the twisting and dropping motions of the hips, which can be "absorbed" by all the layers of fabric in a typical Tribal costume. There isn't any reason to pursue the idea that the tassel is somehow an "authentic" element for dancers -- it's a made-up costuming addition for a made-up dance! It serves its function and lends to the "ethnic" and earthy look of Tribal.

Costuming elements for professional dance historically had SOME useful function -- either to show off a body part or movement, or to show off the wealth or status level of the performer. I agree with Ariadne, that the tassels came about as a natural evolution from the strips of fabric that decorated the skirts of the awalim dancers, which served to extend and highlight the movement of the dancers' hips and the swirl of the skirts.


Farasha - there are multiple versions of the coin scarf origin story. Apparently they had been produced as head scarves in Egypt for ages before anyone thought to tie one around her butt. Again, another natural evolution.
 

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
Farasha, the story as Jamila tells it:

From Many Tribes | The Best of Habibi


So she was responsible for the faux-ethnic look, but not really the "Fat Chance" look. That was Carolena and Masha. The Renn-Faire look is a combination of attempting to look period and authentic, and finding something that still shows enough the movement. Thus you will find cholis and bare bellies at Renn Faires (that's perceived to be at least somewhat period and "ethnic," but no "beads and sequins." Kind of ridiculous, but whatever floats your boat. Personally I can't get too upset over seeing a Renn Faire dancer wearing beads while the booth next to the musicians is selling cheesecake on a stick. :/
 

Shanazel

Moderator
The funny thing about it is ATS and associated ofshoots are genuine cultural phenomena that evolved in the USA among like-minded people. That so many felt the need to justify it with pseudo-history and costuming is sad and even sadder is that they aren't taken as a serious cultural movement because a) it is still in its infancy and b) in the beginning was composed largely of middle class Caucassian women. And we all know middle-class Caucassians haven't a clue to "real" tribal culture, right? ;)
 

Farasha Hanem

New member
What's so frustrating is the advertising in online stores. I think now I can tell when an ad is trying to feed me a load of POODYMUCKLE, as in the case with the antique zills, as I talked about in another thread. When I first read about the tassels, though, the Tribal store claimed that a "real" Tribal tassel had to be made of a "genuine" such-and-such yarn, or else I wasn't buying the real deal. -_- :rolleyes:

Truth in advertising, people! :protest:
 

Aniseteph

New member
Morocco's version of the coined hipscarf story is here under Articles, Mahmoud Abd el Ghaffar: The Beginning Of Al Wikalah!
 

Maghreb

New member
Carolena stated, in a video that I can't for the life of me remember the name of, that the genesis of the tassel belt was when one of her students brought a camel's headdress into class.
 

Marya

Member
What's so frustrating is the advertising in online stores. I think now I can tell when an ad is trying to feed me a load of POODYMUCKLE, as in the case with the antique zills, as I talked about in another thread. When I first read about the tassels, though, the Tribal store claimed that a "real" Tribal tassel had to be made of a "genuine" such-and-such yarn, or else I wasn't buying the real deal. -_- :rolleyes:

Truth in advertising, people! :protest:

For my "authentic" tassel belt I spun the wool my self and made the tassels. Carolina's tassel belt inspired me, she spun the wool for the tassels too. I still have the belt but it is about to be re-purposed.

Marya
 

shiradotnet

Well-known member
I read somewhere that a certain person invented the coin hip scarf in the '70's, but I'm not sure how true that is, and am a bit afraid to say who because I don't want my guts turned into garters in case I read wrong. So, who DID invent the coin hip scarf?

I'm not sure who originally invented it, but I remember seeing Samia Gamal wearing one with a baladi dress in the movie A Glass and a Cigarette, which is from the 1950's. There are lots of coin costumes in the old Egyptian movies - some are bra/belt sets, others are coin scarves worn over dresses.
 

khanjar

New member
Big tassels from memory are camel ornaments, but given the attitude to women at the time and still in some quarters what camels are adorned with, why not women, it's adornment after all As to yarns, whatever made a camel ornament which was whatever was available cheaply at the time as all it was was adornment

But the name Kajira does anyone understand the connotations attached to that and yes I have read all the books of the series right up to the part he starts losing it, by John Norman, it is why I ask why a self respecting woman would choose such a name, as every time I hear it mentioned I remember what a kajira is in the mind of John Norman.

And if anyone wishes to clean up this dance and make it anything other than what most of the public think it is don't mention the name kajira because a kajira is a slave woman from the planet Gor.

And believe it or not there Gorians on Earth inspired by the book where the women of are not much more than slaves to usually overweigh uncompromising arrogant men who think they are the elite.
 
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