SIDDI ZIKR

SONGLINES

CREOLIZATION AND DIASPORA ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN

Written by Sayan Dey

The term ‘Siddi’ is referred to the African diaspora communities in India, who initially arrived in 13th century with the Islamic invaders in Gujarat (then Sindh) as slaves, palace guards, traders and musicians from the eastern parts of Africa like Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Sudan and Tanzania. In 15th century, another group of Africans were brought to India by the Portuguese colonizers as slaves from the southern parts of Africa like South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Though, initially, the Siddis arrived as slaves, later on due to their physical, intellectual and aesthetic prowess many of them were released from slavery and were promoted as palace guards, harem guards, treasurers, army officers, musicians, and others. It is also important to note here that this project is a humble attempt to acknowledge the indigenous, transoceanic, and creolized knowledge values of the Siddi community in Gujarat that were taught to me by the community members during the fieldwork through stories, dances, songs, laughter, and tears.

However, their history and contemporary existence is still widely unknown across India and the world. And even it is known, then they are stereotypically portrayed as dancers and musicians. Such problematic portrayal systemically hides their habitual experiences of social, cultural, racial, gendered and political marginalization in residential localities, communities, academic institutions, workplaces, and public places. In order to resist such experiences, the Siddis use zikrs (cultural and religious songs) as an archive to preserve and revive their African ancestral cultural and spiritual traditions that are interwoven with the local sociocultural practices of Gujarat. It is also important to note that the Siddis adopted the Sufi tradition of singing and performing zikrs from their eastern African ancestors, which gradually got intermingled with the local Islamic practices in Gujarat.

^{The entrance to the coast
of Kuda in Bhavnagar Gujarat, which, according to the Siddi folklores
functioned as the gateway for the African traders and other traders from
modern-day Iran, Iraq, and Syria.}

^{According to the Siddi
folklore, it is believed that this boat belongs to Mai Misra, one of the
female spiritual ancestors of the Siddis .}

^{A glimpse of dancing dhamaal inside one of the mosques in Ahmedabad during the performance of zikrs.}