The cloth that reveals…
The Kanga is a piece of brightly coloured printed cloth worn by women and some men. Widely used in Kenya and Tanzania, the kanga is also found in many African countries especially in the Indian Ocean Region.
The Nairobi Gallery Museum saw the launch of the Kanga exhibition, which was accompanied by music, food, refreshments, speeches and an exciting fashion show. Until then, I hadn’t realized just how many Kanga designs there are out there, and of course, trust Kenyans to bring out the best in everything. There are plans to put a trademark on the Kanga, something that Kenya should have done many years ago. If it’s not done, we may lose it, like we lost the ownership of the Kiondo.
A funny story of the kanga is that the name “Kanga” is said to have originated from the Swahili word for the Guineafowl. This is due to the fact that many of the initial kanga cloths had patterns consisting of dots. It’s said that swahili men may also have named the kanga after the Guineafowl because they felt that the women who preferred to use them chattered like Guineafowl…
Ecoescapades 