ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a closer look at the recent developments and changes within the Dammal performances of the Siddi community in the state of Gujarat in India. A micro-minority of around 25,000, the Siddis of Gujarat, predominantly Muslims, remain till date, an economically and socially marginalized community within the country. The Siddis are African-Indians and are known within the region for their Sufi sect of the Abyssinian saint, Bava Gor. Apart from the ritual worship of this migrant saint, the community dance form of Dammal has attracted attention from ethnomusicologists and anthropologists for it still preserves the vestiges of an African past within its song lyrics, musical instruments, dance movements and rhythm patterns. Owing to this ethnic heritage of the dance form, the Siddi Dammal has found a new platform of ‘folk’ dance festivals and touristic performances since the 1980s. The chapter thus focuses on how a dance form becomes instrumental in reshaping and reimagining an ethnic identity, and vice versa.
