EL HADJ MAMADOU KABIR USMAN
Emir of Katsina
Nigeria
The Emir of Katsina is a passionate follower of polo, and his family has contributed many champions to Nigeria.
In the twelfth century, Katsina was a Hausa village, governed by the Durbawa, which was a royal dynasty that had emigrated from a region whose name tradition has lost. One of the Durbawa kings, Janzawa, married a Daura princess from another Hausa state. The Queen Katsina, gave her name to the village which became the terminal of the commercial transsaharien route from Tripoli( Lybia ).
Before the Jihad( holy war ), the prosperity and security of the inhabitants of Katsina depended upon the goodwill of the Sarki( king ). If the soverain-god showed signs of mental or physical weakness, the lords of the palace would choose his successor, that they would place beneath a black ox whose throat would be cut. The new Sarki would therefore be purified and washed in the ox’s blood, while one of the lords strangled the fallen soverain.
The deceased Sarki was then envelopped in the ox’s skin and burried standing up.
At BBB we will be debuting a taste of things to come. We recently began a collaboration with New York, bespoke Milliners, Victor Osborne. If you are not already aware of their brand, please check out their work. http://www.victorosborne.com/ True, fine crafted hats and accessories. We will be exploring a full collection in the coming months - but thanks to Zach and Victor we will be showcasing a special vicuna piece, along with other original design using special leathers from our partner Otabo. Ostrich is the new black.
When we create a culture that creates depth, that one day will be revisited, borrowed and stolen from, we have achieved - until then we have to burn things down and try again.
