I'm reading Zeyn Joukhadar's essay about singing opera and she describes a staging of Rossini’s Aureliano in Palmira. When she gets to the costumes I run up against vocabulary unfamiliar to me:
“Fagioli wears a thobe with an agal and white ghutra; Aleida dons a white abaya with gold embroidery and bell sleeves.”
Thawb or thobe (Arabic: ثَوْب lit. 'dress' or 'garment') is an Arab dress for the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, also called dishdashah, and kandurah, kandoora or gandurah in varieties of Arabic. A long-sleeved ankle-length traditional robe, it is mainly worn by men in the Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, North Africa, and some countries in East and West Africa, with regional variations in name and style.
An agal (Arabic: عِقَال; also spelled iqal, egal, or igal) is an Arab men's clothing accessory. It is a black cord, worn doubled, used to keep a ghutrah (or keffiyeh) in place on the wearer's head.[1] It is traditionally made of goat hair.[2]
The ghutrah (غُترَة), keffiyeh or kufiyyeh (Arabic: كُوفِيَّة, romanized: kūfiyyah, lit. 'coif'),[1] also known in Arabic as a shemagh (شُمَاغ šumāġ), or ḥaṭṭah (حَطَّة), is a traditional headdress worn by men from parts of the Middle East. It is fashioned from a square scarf, and is usually made of cotton.[2] The keffiyeh is commonly found in arid regions, as it provides protection from sunburn, dust, and sand. An agal is often used by Arabs to keep it in place.
The abaya (colloquially and more commonly, Arabic: عباية ʿabāyah, especially in Literary Arabic: عباءة ʿabā'ah; plural عبايات ʿabāyāt, عباءات ʿabā'āt), sometimes also called an aba, is a simple, loose over-garment, essentially a robe-like dress, worn by some women in the Muslim world including most of the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of the Horn of Africa.[1] Traditional abayas are usually black and may either be a large square of fabric draped from the shoulders or head or a long kaftan. The abaya covers the whole body except the head (sometimes), feet, and hands.
OK. I’ve seen these garments in pictures and movies, but I never knew their specific names. Each seems to have more than one name, in fact.
All the definitions are from Wikipedia, and there are pictures at the links.
source:
“Catching the Light: reclaiming opera as a trans Arab” by Zeyn Joukhadar
This Arab Is Queer: an anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab writers
edited by Elias Jahshan
2022. Saqi Books, London UK
