From the archive record
Sidi Goma is a group of African Indian Sidis from the Bharuch district of Gujarat. This tribal Sufi community of East African origin came to India eight centuries ago, and preserved and carried on the tradition of Sidi music and dance adapted from African rituals (which includes a dance known as goma). They carried with them their exceptionally rich musical tradition and kept it alive and flourishing through the generations, unknown to the rest of the world. A traditional occupation of African-Indian Sufis in Gujarat has been to perform sacred music and dance as wandering faqirs, singing songs to their black Sufi saint, Bava Gor. Sidi men and women perform sacred music and dance during rituals in the shrines to Bava Gor, and have lived on accepting alms for touring these devotional genres