African-Indian concert set to dazzle New York

New Yorkers would get a taste of spirited music and dance of Sidis of Gujarat, a community of African heritage, on Friday.

New Yorkers would get a taste of the spirited music and dance of the Sidis of Gujarat, a community of East African heritage, on Friday.

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The World Music Institute (WMI) is organising a special concert, Sidi Goma, featuring the revelry the Sidis, who came to Gujarat crossing the Arabian Sea on dhows eight centuries ago.

This concert of African-Indian Sufi music and dance at Symphony Space on Broadway will bring to the US the music of Sidi Sufis, Muslim mystics who are dedicated to the African saint Gori Pir.

The 12-member Sidi Goma ensemble performed in Europe to fascinated audiences in 2002, and made a historic African debut in 2003.

Sidi Goma group has four lead musicians (drummers/singers) and eight dancers. The programme presents an overview of Sidi ritual performance, from the traditional muezzin call to prayer to a staged ritual performance. It centres round a danced zikr (remembrance), consisting of joyful, satirical praise dances to their saint, who is attributed with giving them the joy they express in their dances.

The programme is the first in The Cultural World of Islam concert series. It is also part of Daniel Pearl Music Day - an annual event dedicated to the ideal of tolerance, friendship and shared humanity and in memory of the Wall Street journalist murdered by extremists in Pakistan in 2002.