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.
This is the image of Hazrat Bilal Masjid. It was constructed in 1422 in the memory of Bilal Habshi from Ethiopia by the African merchants in Kuda, Gujarat.
According to the Siddi folklore, it is believed that this boat belongs to Mai Misra,
one of the female spiritual ancestors of the Siddis.
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.
A glimpse of dancing dhamaal inside one of the mosques in Ahmedabad during the performance of zikrs.