African Origin Gujaratis

[Guest guest]

SIDI GOMA GROUP IN MOMBASA

 

The African Sidis of Gujarat are a Sufi community of East African

origin which travelled to India centuries ago and made Gujarat their

home.

http://www.coastweek.com/2631-32.htm

 

Coastweek - - YUNUSBHAI SIDI (foreground) and members of

Sidi Goma group - African Sufis of Gujarat - seen during their

recent performance at Lighthouse, Mama Ngina Drive, Mombasa.

PHOTO YUSUF MAHMOUD / BUSARA PROMOTIONS

 

'MAGIC MUSIC FROM THE MYSTICS'

 

Coastweek - -Sidi Goma group (African Sufis of Gujarat) have

completed a most successful and historic first visit to the East

African.

 

Their tour was organised by Busara Promotions, a cultural NGO based

in Zanzibar working regionally to promote and develop opportunities

for musicians and performing artists and to build networks

internationally, for the social, cultural and economic growth of the

region.

 

The African Sidis of Gujarat are a Sufi community of East African

origin which travelled to India centuries ago and made Gujarat their

home.

 

They carried with them their exceptionally rich musical tradition and

kept it alive and flourishing through the generations, unknown to the

rest of the world.

 

Their history is rooted in the slave trade of the 13th century and

beyond, when many Sidi arrived in India as slaves to the Maharajas

and Nawabs of the day, whilst others came as merchants, navigators

and sailors.

 

Sidi Goma perform in a group of twelve: four lead musicians

(drummers/ singers) and eight dancers.

 

Their programme centred around a danced zikr (remembrance),

consisting of joyful, satirical praise dances to their Saint Bava

Gor, who is attributed with giving them the joy they express in their

dances.

 

Intoxicating drum patterns that "speak" the zikr prayers in rhythm

support the dancers who perform virtuosic feats of agility and

strength, gradually reaching an ecstatic climax.

 

While the music gradually gets more rapid and excited, the dances

unfold with constantly evolving individual and small-group acts of

animal imitations, climaxing in a coconut-breaking feat.

 

Their programme featured solos on the malunga, an instrument

resembling the Brazilian berimbau or East African zeze, as well as

prayer calls and seated ritual songs (baithi, dhamal and qawwali).

 

Included in the show was a certain type of circle dance, with people

coming into the centre to perform more exhibitionistic dancing,

indicative of the slave dances of Zanzibar.

 

Yunus Babu Sidi, one of the group's leaders speaking in a recent

interview with ethnomusicology professor Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy says:

 

"The general population in India think of us as Africans, although we

are Indians, pure and proper and Swahili is the language of our

forefathers and we should not forget it.

 

"We use the Swahili language in some of the songs during our

performances, but we don't know the true meanings behind these words.

 

"All I know is I come from Africa, and I would like nothing better

than to sit around with my Sidi brothers and sisters one day and have

a conversation with them in Kiswahili."

 

The exuberant energy and joy Sidi Goma brings to the stage is

captivating and powerful, their unique African-Indian heritage a

fascinating discovery and every performance an exhilarating

experience !