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From Africa to India
Sidi Music in the Indian Ocean Diaspora
Speakers
74 mins | English with some English Subtitles | 2003
The African-Indian Sidis of Gujarat practice a unique strand of Sufism. Followers of the 14th century Rifa’i Sufi Saint, Bava Gor, and his disciples Bava Habash and Mai Mishra, Gujarati Sidis invoke Sidi Goma and Sidi Dhamal music and dance as fundamental ritual healing and social practices. Sidis of Karnataka follow various Christian, Hindu, and Muslim paths with their own music and dance traditions.
In From Africa to India: Sidi Music in the Indian Ocean Diaspora, and its sequel The Sidi Malunga Project: Rejuvenating the African Musical Bow in India, UCLA ethnomusicologists Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy and Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy trace the role of music in Sidi identity in Gujarat, Karnataka, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
Professor Catlin-Jairazbhoy has been working with the Sidi community in Gujarat for more than 25 years. In 2002 she organized the “Sidis at the Millennium” conference where 400 Gujarati Sidis and several international scholars gathered at the Rajpipla Palace in Narmada District. Juje Siddi from Karnataka, who plans to attend this screening with other local Siddis, was a participant in the conference.
The research was conducted with Amy’s Senior Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies, and is archived in their Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology (ARCE) in Gurgaon, Haryana. At the request of the Sidi community, she co-directed the Sidi Literacy Project (2015-2024), and currently co-directs the Sidi Cultural Centre Project in Bharuch District (2024-) again with Sonal Mehta of Eklavya (Ahmedabad) and Professor Beheroze Shroff (University of California at Irvine). She looks forward to introducing this project after the screening during discussion with the audience.
The screening of the film will be followed by a conversation with the filmmaker.
Speakers
Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy
Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy’s research, writing, teaching, curatorial activities, and multi-media publications often have an applied focus, aimed at community development of minority traditions, especially in diasporic settings. She served as curator and presented the first concert and lecture tour outside India with a group of African-Indian Sidi performers from Gujarat, in September 2002, traveling with them in England and Wales. Her recent publications include Sidi Sufis: African Indian Mystics of Gujarat (Apsara Media 2002: 79-minute CD), the volume co-edited with Indian Ocean historian Edward Alpers, Sidis and Scholars: Essays on African Indians (New Delhi: Rainbow Publications, 2003), the DVD The Sidi Malunga Project (2004), the DVD From Africa to India: Sidi Music in the Indian Ocean Diaspora (with Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy) (2003), and Music for a Goddess (with Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy) (2008), an interactive DVD of 175 minutes, including Bonus Tracks, on professional musicians dedicated to the Goddess Renuka-Yellamma in southern Maharashtra and northern Karnataka.
Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed
Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed is an award-winning journalist with Frontline newsmagazine and is based in Bengaluru.
