Sidi community struggles to save decrepit shrine

MUMBAI: The Gori Pir dargah in Sidi Mohalla is an unimposing shrine in theMuslim suburb of Dongri. But this decrepit Sufi shrine, with its curious antique musical instruments, is a very special place: it is where the Sidis, the city’s little-known community of African-Indians, worship.
As Sufi devotees of Gori Pir or Bava Gor, a pious Abyssinian agate trader who the community reveres as their blessed patriarch, the Sidis hold an ‘urs’ to their saint here every October.
They also hold dhamals’ and ‘gomas’ (ritual dances) at the shrine several times a year. On these occasions, the shrine comes alive with a music and dance that is intriguingly African.
The shrine ought to be on the city’s heritage list, but it is not. It ought not to be falling part, but it is. That’s largely because Mumbai’s 500 Sidis live on the margins — just as the rest of their 35,000-strong community in south Gujarat, north Karnataka and Hyderabad do.
The Sidis have lived in India since the 13th century. Their ancestors came here from different parts of Africa at different times.
While some were slaves, others were soldiers, seafarers, traders and fakirs. The community had had a long association with Mumbai, and actually ruled the city for 16 years in the mid-17th century. But it has fallen upon hard times in the last few decades. “We are menial workers and petty shopkeepers. Our community’s contribution to the shrine is not enough for proper restoration,’’ said the shrine’s caretaker Assumabehn Makhwa and her son Rauf, while they showed one around the green-walled shrine.
“That’s why our shrine is quietly crumbling away.’’ But help may be at hand. UCLA ethnomusicologist Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy, a longtime scholar of Sidi culture, is trying to devise ways to raise funds for the shrine along with Pukar, a local urban research group, and dedicated students of musical cultures including writer-critic Naresh Fernandes.
One of her suggestions that’s being actively considered is that a fund-raising concert of Sidi music be held at the shrine.
“The Sidis’ drumming patterns and dances that accompany the music resemble African forms,’’ observed Prof Catlin-Jairazbhoy.
Many Sidi instruments are African-derived and some are still known by their Bantu names. Their main drum, the mugarman, is similar to drums from Central and South Africa. Their armpit drums resemble African talking drums.
And their word ‘goma’ is the Bantu word for drum ritual, or drum dance.’’ Dance and music are the mechanismby which the dark- skinned, neglected Sidis cope with discrimination. “They lose themselves in their music, which is both healing and energising,’’ said Catlin-Jairazbhoy.
“Despite the hardships they face, the Sidis are a proud, adaptable people who have a huge capacity for happiness.’’