A man wearing a kaftan.

A kaftan or caftan (from Persian خفتان xaftân) is a front-buttoned coat or overdress, usually reaching to the ankles, with long sleeves. It can be made of wool, cashmere, silk, or cotton. It may be worn with a sash.

It is a variant of the robe or tunic, versions of which have been worn by countless cultures around the world, for thousands of years. The kaftan is associated with Islamic or Islamicate cultures. Kaftans were often worn as court robes; the splendor and specific decorations of the kaftan indicated the rank of the wearer. Sovereigns often gave ornate kaftans as a mark of favor.

Persian kaftans[link]

The first Mughal Emperor Babur dressed in a kaftan.

Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent adorned in a Kaftan of complex woven fabric.

Despite the Persian origin of the term "kaftan", Persian robes of honor were commonly known as khalat or kelat.^[1]

Ottoman kaftans[link]

The kaftans worn by the Ottoman sultans are preserved in one of the most splendid collections of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. Lavishly decorated kaftans were given as rewards to important dignitaries and victorious generals. The decorations—colours, patterns, ribbons, and buttons—indicated the rank of the person to whom they were presented.

From the 14th century through 17th centuries, textiles with large patterns were used. The decorative patterns on the fabrics became both smaller and brighter in the late 16th and in the 17th centuries. By the second half of the 17th century, the most precious fabrics were those with 'yollu': vertical stripes with various embroideries and small patterns, the so-called "Selimiye" fabrics.

Most fabrics manufactured in Turkey were made in Istanbul and Bursa, but some textiles came from as far away as Venice, Genoa, Persia (Iran), India and even China. Kaftans were made from velvet, aba, bürümcük (a type of crepe with a silk warp and cotton weft), canfes, çatma (a heavy silk brocade), gezi, diba (Persian دیبا), hatayi, kutnu, kemha, seraser (Persian سراسر) (brocade fabric with silk warp and gold or silver metallic thread weft^[2]), serenk, zerbaft (Persian زربافت), tafta (Persian تافته). Favoured colours were indigo blue, kermes red, violet, pişmis ayva or "cooked quince", and weld yellow.

The Topkapı Museum, Istanbul, possesses a large collection of Ottoman kaftans and textiles.^[3]

Moroccan kaftans[link]

In Morocco kaftans are only worn by women, see Takshita. These robes differ in many ways from their Turkish counterparts. They can be dressy casual to extremely formal, depending on the materials used.

West African kaftans[link]

In West Africa, a kaftan is a pullover robe. In France, this robe is called a boubou. Kaftans are worn by both men and women.^[4] In West Africa, the female robe is called a kaftan or a boubou, and the male robe is the Senegalese kaftan.

Russian kaftans[link]

In Russia the word "kaftan" is used for another type of clothing: a kind of a man's long suit with tight sleeves. By the 19th century, Russian kaftans were the most widely spread type of outer clothing among peasants and merchants. Currently they are used as a ritual religious clothing by the most conservative sect of Old Believers.

Southeast Asian kaftans[link]

In South East Asia, kaftans are often worn as cool, casual hot weather attire. Batik fabric is often used.^[5]

Western fashion[link]

American hippie fashions of the late 1960s and the 1970s often drew from ethnic styles, including kaftans. African-styled, kaftan-like dashikis were popular, especially among African-Americans. Street styles were appropriated by fashion designers, who marketed lavish, Moroccan-style kaftans as hostess gowns for casual at-home entertaining.

See also[link]

• Ottoman clothing
• Takchita
• Senegalese kaftan
• Kaftan (boubou)
• Kanzu
• Dashiki
• Kufi

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kaftans

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (April 2012)

B. A. Robertson (born Brian Alexander Robertson, 12 September 1956, Glasgow^[1]) is a Scottish musician, actor, composer and songwriter.

Early life[link]

Robertson was educated at the former Allan Glen's School, Glasgow.

Career[link]

He released his debut album Wringing Applause, recorded with Terry Manning, on the Ardent Records label (also home of Big Star) in 1973, but it was to be a further six years until he found success in the UK charts.

Robertson had hits between 1979 and 1981 in the UK Singles Chart, the first of which – "Bang Bang" – reached number 2 in August 1979.^[2] Follow-up singles "Knocked It Off", "Kool In The Kaftan" and "To Be Or Not To Be" reached chart positions 8, 17 and 9 respectively.^[2] All the singles came from his third album Initial Success, which reached number 32 in the UK Albums Chart.^[2] In 1981 he had his last Top 40 hit performing a duet with Maggie Bell, of a cover version of "Hold Me" which reached number 11.^[2]

He wrote or co-wrote "Carrie", "Hot Shot" and "Wired for Sound" for Cliff Richard and wrote "Language of Love" which Richard released as a B-side. Robertson also penned and sang the theme music to the television series Maggie and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop ("Hello, Hello"), and wrote and sang backing vocals for the Swap Shop spin-off group Brown Sauce's UK Top 20 hit, "I Wanna Be a Winner".

One song written and sung by Robertson, "To Be Or Not To Be", a tribute to William Shakespeare, was recorded by Micky Dolenz in 1981 and became a hit single in Japan (JAM Records J-8112B) in December, 1981.

In October 1980, Robertson appeared as a guest on the BBC Television chat show Friday Night, Saturday Morning. In the sixth and final series of the same show, Robertson appeared on one programme (January 1982) as the show's host. In February 1981 Robertson appeared playing live in concert on the BBC joint television and radio programme Rock Goes To College. He appeared at the then Preston Polytechnic, Lancashire. He also appeared as one of the Entertainers in the movie The Monster Club starring Vincent Price, David Carradine, and Donald Pleasence.

In 1987, Robertson produced the two tracks on the Eddie and the Tide album "Looking For Adventure".

Robertson has regularly written songs with Mike Rutherford for Rutherford's band Mike + The Mechanics, including their hits "Silent Running" and "The Living Years". The latter was written after Robertson's father died twelve weeks before the birth of his own son, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1990.

Robertson also wrote "We Have a Dream" for the 1982 World Cup Scotland squad and played the lead in the movie Living Apart Together, directed by Charlie Gormley. In 1983 Robertson, along with co-songwriters Terry Britten and Sue Shifrin, won a Razzie Award for the Worst 'Original' Song for "Pumpin' and Blowin'" as featured in the 1982 film, The Pirate Movie.^[1]

Robertson presented a two-part documentary, Jock 'n' Roll Parts I & II charting the history of pop music in Scotland and also presented a short-lived television programme, B. A. in Music, which featured contributions from musician guests. The show made Channel 4's 2000 list 100 Greatest TV Moments from Hell after Robertson had a confrontation with Bow Wow Wow singer Annabella Lwin during which she called the programme a 'pretty shit show' and stormed off.^[3]

In 1991 Robertson was billed as the co-producer and executive musical producer for Simply Mad About the Mouse: A Musical Celebration of Imagination (ISBN 1-55890-217-1), a 1991 direct-to-video release featuring top contemporary singers performing "classic Disney songs".^[4]

Robertson's stage name was often mentioned in the BBC Two satiricial sketch comedy programme The Fast Show, during the recurring sketch "Chanel 9", a parody of Mediterranean TV channels. The joke was based on occasionally intelligible (to English speaking audiences) names appearing in foreign broadcast speech.

Robertson more recently appeared on the Scottish segment of BBC's Children In Need telethon on 14 November 2008, performing a re-worked version of "We Have a Dream" alongside Edwyn Collins, The Gospel Truth Choir, the Tartan Army, and a host of Scottish celebrities. On 16 January 2010 he performed with a live band in Glasgow for the first time since 1981 as part of the Celtic Connections Festival. "A Scottish Songbook" featured a number of diverse artists performing songs written by Scots, and Robertson performed "Twisted" (written by Annie Ross and Wardell Gray) and his own "The Living Years" - backed by house band Session A9 and The Gospel Truth Choir. The event was filmed for subsequent broadcast by BBC Scotland.

Partial discography[link]

Albums[link]

Wringing Applause, 1973, Ardent ADS2804. Released as by "Brian Alexander Robertson"

1. "Moira's Hand" - 3:30
2. "In the Limelight" - 3:59
3. "These Fantasies" - 3:51
4. "After the Theatre" - 4:57
5. "Carnival" - 5:05
6. "Cowboys" - 4:22
7. "To My Star" - 5:29
8. "Coatails" - 4:14
9. "Baby Nuts" - 4:12
10. "Myths and Illusions" - 4:23

Shadow of a Thin Man, 1976, Arista / Sparty 1000. Released as by "Alexander Robertson"

1. "Entrance" - 1:50
2. "No Strength in Numbers" - 2:40
3. "Tricky and Tough" - 3:19
4. "Sugar" - 2:55
5. "Tap! Tap! Tap!" - 3:12
6. "Trans Siberian Express" - 3:46
7. "Mighty England" - 4:43
8. "Hail Mary" - 3:34
9. "All the Thin Men" - 3:56
10. "Roxanna" - 3:04
11. "School Report" - 3:57

Initial Success, 1980, Asylum K52216

1. "Gonzo for my Girlfriend" - 2:34
2. "Man or a Mouse" - 2:25
3. "Goosebumps" - 2:26
4. "Fallin in Luv" - 2:51
5. "Kool in the Kaftan" - 3:52
6. "Bang Bang" - 3:16
7. "Eat Your Heart Out Sandy Nelson" - 1:57
8. "The B Side" - 2:37
9. "To Be or Not To Be" - 3:15
10. "She's a Beezer" - 2:42
11. "England's Green & Pheasant Land" - 3:07
12. "Walking Rover" - 3:23
13. "Knocked it Off" - 3:35
14. "Here I Sit..." - 1:26

Bully for You, 1981, Asylum, K52275

1. "Saint Saens" - 2:46  listen (help·info)
2. "Bully for You" - 2:45
3. "Maggie" - 2:33
4. "Growing Old's Unhealthy" - 3:15
5. "Please Miss" - 3:35
6. "In the Bar at the Munich Hilton" - 3:39
7. "Dart Vader" - 3:33
8. "Hey Presto" - 3:12
9. "Flight 19" - 3:33
10. "Only One" - 3:41
11. "Turn the Volume Down" - 2:49
12. "Home Sweet Home" - 2:52

R&BA, Asylum, K52383

1. "Dot Dot Dot"
2. "Ready or Not"
3. "Moscow Rules"
4. "Nothing Like a Great Romance"
5. "Four Minutes to Midnight"
6. "Hold Me"
7. "Legislate for Love"
8. "Son of a Gunn"
9. "One Plus One"
10. "Asleep With a Stranger"
11. "Just Like a Rash"

Singles[link]

"Moira's Hand", Ardent ADA 2907. Released as by "Brian Alexander Robertson"

1. "Moira's Hand"
2. "To My Star"

"All the Thin Men", 1976, Arista 64. Released as by "Alexander Robertson"

1. "All the Thin Men"
2. "School Report"

"Goosebumps", 1979, Asylum Records, K13146

1. "Goosebumps"
2. "The B-Side"

"Bang Bang", 1979, Asylum Records, K13152

1. "Bang Bang"
2. "2(b) B Side the C Side"

"Knocked it Off", 1979, Asylum Records, K12396

1. "Knocked it Off"
2. "Sci-Fi"

"Kool in the Kaftan", 1980, Asylum Records K12427. Released as an ordinary single and as a gatefold

1. "Kool in the Kaftan"
2. "Baby I'm a Bat"

"To Be or Not to Be", 1980, Asylum Records K12449

1. "To Be or Not To Be"
2. "Language of Love (Live)"
3. "Hot Shot (Live)"

"Flight 19", 1980, Asylum Records K12482

1. "Flight 19"
2. "Alright on the Night"

"Sucker for Your Love", 1981, Asylum Records SAM 131. Promotional release: "A Free B.A. from Middlesex Poly". Also with "Bully for You" (without picture sleeve).

1. "Sucker for Your Love (Live)"
2. "Man or a Mouse (Live)"

"Hold Me", 1981, Swan Song, BAM 1. Duet with Maggie Bell

1. "Hold Me"
2. "Spring Greens"

"Saint Saens", 1981, Asylum Records K12523

1. "Saint Saens"
2. "Gonzo For My Girlfriend (Live)"

"We Have a Dream", 1982, WEA International K19145. Scotland World Cup Squad.

1. "We Have a Dream"
2. "Wrap up the Cup"

"Ready or Not", 1982, Asylum Records K12602

1. "Ready or Not"
2. "Les Beans"

"One Plus One", 1982, Asylum Records K12595

1. "One Plus One"
2. "UNKNOWN"

"Dot Dot Dot", 1983, Asylum Records K13190

1. "Dot Dot Dot"
2. "Keep Off the Grass"

"Now and Then", 1983, After Hours Records AFT10 [From the movie Living Apart Together]

1. "Now and Then"
2. "Page 15B Scene 8A"

"Time", 1984, RCA 104217. With Frida - ABBA's instrumental track "Arrival", with added lyrics

1. "Time"
2. "(I Am) The Seeker"

^[5]

"Ceud Mìle Failte (A Hundred Thousand Welcomes) (The BBC-TV Commonwealth Games Theme)" 1986, BBC Records RESL 192. 12" 12 RSL 192.

1. "Ceud Mìle Failte (A Hundred Thousand Welcomes) (The BBC-TV Commonwealth Games Theme)"
2. "See You In Auckland"

"Bang Bang", 1989, Old Gold Records OG9914

1. "Bang Bang"
2. "To Be Or Not To Be"

Filmography[link]

• The Monster Club - 1980
• Living Apart Together - 1982^[1]

See also[link]

• List of songs that retell a work of literature
• List of performers on Top of the Pops
• List of performances on Top of the Pops

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website