Rana Bose is a writer and poet and a member of the Serai editorial board.

In India, Sidis are the descendants of East Africans who traveled to the subcontinent, as traders, soldiers and slaves, for millennia (in fact over 800 years ago); and Sidi Goma is a performance troupe from the Indian State of Gujarat that performs the Sufi ritual music passed on to them by their African ancestors. Known as the Black Sufis of India, their newly released album rocks on its own. But seeing them live on stage at the Theatre Outremont really brings them and their story closer to the heart. They bring the house down like no other World Music troupe in recent times, in Montreal. Now here is a troupe, that speaks Gujarati and Hindi, sings in Swahili (which they apparently understand very little of) with Arabic infusion, use instruments that could range anywhere from Brazilian to Middle Eastern and Indian and their body movements could be anywhere from whirling dervishes to the watusi hip jumping and ostrich/camel movements that serious animists would dig. With unique instrumentation consisting of the malunga (a musical bow), the mai misra (coconut rattle) and a battery of percussion including the musindo and the mugarman drums, Sidi Goma casts a hypnotic, trance-inducing spell not unlike the Gnawa of Morocco or the Qawwalis of Pakistan and India. Like their Sufi brethren, the Sidis' music builds slowly, starting out with a traditional muezzin call to prayer followed by a seated portion of zikrs (remembrances) and then comes the second half (after an understandable fifteen minute intermission) that eventually reaches an ecstatic fever pitch that leaves the listener that much closer to whatever spiritual element, he or she desires.

The first half with samplings of their Africanist movements, (they are all dressed in long white tunics at this time) are controlled and yet ecstatic towards the end of each song. Starting out at a steady pace, they are traveling at a zillion miles per hour towards the end with their drums.

Then comes the second half. A complete contrast! They are decked out in peacock feathers, short skirts and faces painted with white stripes and in no time they are moving like snakes, alligators, camel and ostriches, as a minimum, as they drum through their routine. What could be best described as totally abandoned dancing, they come to stage front with hilarious expressions, imitating animal movements, sticking their tongues and heads in slithery directions in an almost teasing manner. In one case one of the Sidis does this incredible walk across the stage, imitating the steps of an ostrich in slow motion while exploring the world around him. Every step seems like a walk through desert sand.

Using terms like infectious would hardly describe the rhythm and resonance they brought to the majestic Outremont Theatre. My friend, who accompanied me to the show, could not resist herself and jumped on to the stage at the end when the Sidis invited the audience. A jazz musician ran down with his flute to join them, but before he could put his instruments together, the finale had come.

Now would a review like this end as a review only? An inescapable comment is necessary. Here are people from Gujarat, black Africans (noticeably a lit bit paler by some mixing with the local Gujarati population, even though the brochure suggests that they intermarried amongst themselves and maintained their traditions), supposedly a lost tribe and yet they have been brought to the forefront of the World Music scene, dancing up a fervour and a certain cultural harmony on stage that is so far removed from the horrendous communal carnage that Gujarat witnessed under the banner of the fundamentalist zealots of the Hindu chauvinist BJP variety.