VERY INTERESTING ABOUT AFRICI-INDIAN.... Must Read....... About a year or so ago I had sent an e-mail about the “Siddis of India,” an African origin ethnic group from Africa. A few days ago a friend of mine sent me these photos of the Siddis, so I thought let me write another e-mail about the Siddis. The fascinating culture and history of the Siddis was unknown to the world beyond their small communities spread across India. It was only about 15 years ago that people started learning about the history and origin of this community. It was Dr. Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy, a visiting Associate Professor and Research Scholar in the Department of Ethnomusicology in Los Angeles who started exploring the cultural and historical significance of the Siddis in India. She was pursuing several different music and dance styles and somehow came across the “Goma” music and dance performers in India and she became curious. These Indians of African origin are said to be the descendants of the Bantu tribe from East Africa. They are also known as “Habshis” in certain parts of India. There are a number of legends as to when and how they came to India. Some history researchers say that they were brought to the Indian subcontinent as slaves by Portuguese merchants. Others say that they were brought to India as military mercenaries for the Nawab Of Junagadh, Gujarat some 300 years ago. A few of them, however, are also said to have escaped slavery and fled to Karnataka. It is estimated that there are a total of about 50,000 to 150,000 of them in India, mostly in the states of Gujarat and Karnataka and a couple of thousands in Maharashtra (mostly in Mumbai), Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Goa. In Gujarat most them reside near the Gir Forest National Park in a village called Sirvan. In Karnataka, they are concentrated around Yellapur, Halyan and Dharwad district. Many Siddi families migrated to Pakistan also at the time of partition and reside in and around Karachi. Except for the racial characteristics of the tribe, there is little else that can set them apart from other native populations of India. Although the Siddis in India have adopted the languages and many customs of their surrounding populations, they have preserved some African traditions, including the “Goma” (Ngoma) music and dance form, which is sometimes called Dhamaal in Gujarati. In 2002, Catlin-Jairazbhoy published the CD, “Siddi Sufis.” She then took a group of Siddi Goma dancers from India to East Africa and had them perform Goma in various towns/cities including Nairobi and Mombasa. People in Africa could at once relate to that form of dance and it became a big hit. Following that, a few other researchers of history and culture did more research and now there are several books published on the topic of this unique tribe. I believe most of the Siddis in India are primarily Sufi Muslims, although some are Hindus and others Roman Catholic Christians. Though, divided into different religions the one factor which binds the Siddis -irrespective of their religion - is the ritual of Hiriyaru (ancestor worship). Traditionally, Hiriyaru worship is performed twice a year by the head of the family. It is normally performed during the Navaratri festival in the first week of November. In many places it is also be performed in April–May during the other major festival - Holi. Most Siddis are very hard working and today they mostly subsist as agricultural and casual laborers and many also work as domestic help. Many Siddis in present day India are mixed Indo-African. In Karnataka there are very few “pure” Siddis today, most of the pure Siddi population lives in Gujarat. Many of them have lost their original African names and culture; however, they have retained some forms of their African traditions in the form of dance and music. Enough said – now open the link below and see the fantastic photos of the Siddis. Just so that you do not miss any of the fantastic photos, be sure to see all the ten photos – under the first photo, you will see smaller “squares/images” of the other photos. Click on each one of them to get the full screen image. bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 04:52:47 +0000
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