The state cabinet approved the ghumot,
without monitor lizard skin, as Goa’s heritage folk music instrument. This news
was celebrated not just by the music community in Goa but every Goan who was
eager to play to the beats of one of Goa’s oldest musical instrument. A long
struggle for the ghumot to be free, it was the efforts of a group of people,
who gave a new life to the ghumot.
The Ghumott was an underground
instrument since 1972 all over India when the use of monitor lizard skin was
banned. However, the instrument still exists with different variations
replacing the monitor lizard. Marius Fernandes spearheaded this movement to
give the ghumot its due credit and worked persistently to make the ghumot a
heritage instrument of Goa.
Fr Santan Carvalho, parish priest of
Soccoro, the birthplace of the community fests in Goa says, “For so many years,
the ghumot was a hidden instrument. It is the uniqueness of Goa coming from the
mud of Goa. Even I was a child, I used to see others playing the ghumot but I
had never held it. When I came to Socorro, it was a joy to hold and play the
ghumot. When the first sale of ghumots was put up at the Patoienchem Fest, we
thought people might not buy and kept 100 ghumots for sale. It is the spirit of
Goenkarponn and every year the sale increased.”
Carlos Gonsalves, a noted Goan
percussionist has been the brand ambassador for the ghumott. “I used to play the
ghumot in school and now it is getting its real due. I used to play with Govind
Gaude. (Goa’s Art and Culture Minister)
With
the team of Marius Fernandes, Fabian D'Souza, Shakuntala Bharne, Prajal
Sakhardande and Sanjeev Sardesai, we tried to put a petition to make the ghumot
a heritage instrument. When I was working with Banglanatak.com, I used to visit
Kunbi villages and there I learnt that there are different styles of playing
the ghumot. Whenever I used to play for shows outside Goa, people used to ask
me what is this pot like instrument and I thought of popularising it. This year
also for FC Goa matches, we will do ghumot session with the crowd,” says
Carlos.
‘The
instrument made from the very Goan soil’. The Ghumot, shall empower every Goan
to set a high musical mark on the world stage.
The ghumot has overcome many hurdles,
with a few yet to be overcome, but the journey is almost complete after the Goa
Government accorded it a heritage status. Education about this ethnic Goan
instrument should be carried out on a harmonious war footing, with aspects of
Goan culture incorporated in academic projects. However, its tenets of usage from
the days of our ancestors ancestry must be highlighted” says Sanjeev Sardesai,
who has played a huge part in most of the endeavours of the ghumot reaching the
public.
Prajal Sakhardande along with Marius
Fernandes, met with the Art and Culture minister Govind Gaude with the petition
to declare Ghumot as the State Heritage musical instrument. “Our sincere thanks
to the Minister for considering our petition, Marius mobilised mass support
through his Ghumtachem fest in Siridao. My immense gratitude to the Socio Art
and Cultural Association of Succoro led by Connie Pinto, Fr Santan Carvalho to
mobilise huge support to this great cause. It was always my dream to have our
Ghumot indigenous to our Goa be declared as the State heritage musical
instrument and I am thrilled as today my dream has come to a fruition, ” says
Prajal.
Goan pop singer Oluv has been involved
in music for many fests. After receiving the news about the ghumot, he was
inspired to write a song. “I have composed a song and had a trial at the
Patoienchem Fest, ‘The Ghumot song of Goa’ has the chorus, ‘Ghum, Ghum, Ghum Korun, Ghumot Vazoun-ia, Ghumtachea Avazan Goem
Gazoun-ia’.
It speaks about
how the ghumot doesn’t have caste, class, religion and brings everyone
together.
I started playing the ghumot after Marius
gifted me one. People started buying ghumots after these peoples’ festivals
either to play or keep in their house. I feel like composing all my new songs
to the tunes of the ghumot, even my pop songs,” says Oluv.
BOX
More than skin
deep: The ghumot to reverberate in schools and music classes
Marius shares his journey for the
ghumot, “When I was came back to Goa from the UK in 2004, I was a PTA member in
the Our Lady of Divar High School where we brought the Pilar Music School to
Divar. Out of the school students, we formed a band with my children Ashley and
Gemma and three other boys from the village and that’s the first time we used
the ghumot. When the boy brought the ghumot, he was very nervous and carried it
like a baby to the venue and back. It was such a precious thing to him and he
was worried because it was not legal since it had the monitor lizard. When
Ashley, was working on a study on the ghumott as a project for his sound
engineering, it was very difficult to get information. He gave it as a proposal
to the University of England. Anthony Fernandes from Duler supported the goat
skin for the ghumot. The first and only Ghumtache Fest celebrating the ghumot
was held at Siridao Beach on February 26, 2017 with live performances by the
first girls’ ghumott group. I got college students involved in the process to
convince them about the oldest musical instrument of Goa and to save it. The
bigger victory is for the monitor lizard. No one can touch it now. Since the
goat and sheep skin is legal, it can be carried abroad. It has already reached
Gulf, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.
The real problem is that now potters
should get funding especially for making the ghumots, musicians should also get
support to play it and a new syllabus for the music of the ghumot must be
introduced.
Funding for ghumot classes and
institutions will go a long way in popularising this ethnic instrument
“The humot has to reach the hands of
every child in the schools of Goa. Pricing has to be fixed for ghumots and every market has to have a
designated ghumot area,” signs off Marius