30 June 2009

Turban Times


The other day when I woke up but before I got out of bed I started thinking about blues turbans. In other words, turbans worn by blues musicians. I'd just seen Billy Cox wearing one in some of the footage of Hendrix's set at Woodstock, and I'm a big fan of Hannibal, who famously wore one on the cover of his record, "Hannibalism." And KK's partner BBQ has been known to sport a turban while playing the kick drum, cymbal and guitar.

Fortunately the search engines directed me to a fabulous gallery and analysis of famous blues turbans, courtesy of the funky16corners blog.

If I may, I'd like to borrow a passage from their intro:

When R&B performers started to wear them, it was a risky move. On the right guy (say, Chuck Willis) a turban could give a good-looking cat an intriguing touch of the mysterious. On someone else, say a maniac like Screaming Jay Hawkins, a turban is just another bizarre accessory, there to let you know that this is not a sane man. That dichotomy, a tenuous balance between the suave and the crazy is where turbans would teeter forever more.

To add a soundtrack to your perusal of the turban hall-of-fame, here's a favorite from The Mighty Hannibal himself.

4 comments:

Nathan said...
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Nathan said...

Last night I read about the turban craze that swept Europe in the latter half of the 18th century. About a hundred years after the last siege of Vienna by the Ottomans in 1683, Turkish fashions became quaint accessories for Europeans who were increasingly secure in their borders. Here's a portrait of David Hume sporting the Ottoman headdress: http://manolomen.com/images/hume.jpeg. For some reason, I had never been struck before by the incongruity of Hume's turban.

Akktri said...

You just gave me a great idea. I think I'll start a band called The Blues Jihad. We'll all have beards and wear turbans, but we'll only play songs about Jesus and eating bacon. It'll be great!

koen said...
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