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Paper short abstract

This paper situates ghumot, a membranophone percussion instrument from Goa, in the discourse of heritage making. Using an ethnographic approach, we intend to understand how the community participates in the ritualistic and digital storytelling about a musical instrument, culture, and heritage.

Paper long abstract

The paper traces the story of a membranophone percussion instrument, Ghumot, made from clay and (originally) the hide of a local monitor lizard, now made from goat skin. Goa, located in the western part of India, declared it to be the state heritage instrument in 2019. Goa became a Portuguese colony circa 1510. Even after liberation from Portuguese rule in 1961, Goa, Daman, and Diu formed a part of the union territory of the Republic of India. In May 1987, Goa gained its statehood.

Scholarship on music and sound studies has emphasised nationalistic sentiments, folk and creole imaginations, connected, shared, yet distinct histories of colonial encounters, alongside the global and cosmopolitan aspirations. Furthermore, devotion, labour, and aesthetics find themselves in strange cocoons (Lomax 1972 and 1977; Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett,1995; Jeff Todd Titon, 2009; Harkness, 2015; Feld, 2015; Byl and Sykes, 2020; Weidman, 2012; Krishna, 2020; Sardo, 2020; Kabir, 2021; Sarbadhikary, 2022.

In this paper, through an ethnographic study, we wish to understand 1) how the Ghumot situates itself in the discourse of heritage making and perhaps as a renewable biocultural resource. 2) How does the ghumot sound itself in ritualistic celebrations like the Roce ceremony, compared to that of an experimental music video that brings together various musical styles?