New York Times, September 2004
"ecstatic power
building slowly and steadily to a fever pitch"
Album Description
SIDI GOMA: Black Sidis of Gujarat The mysterious, little known Sidis are the descendants of Africans who travelled across the Indian Ocean from East Africa to India over the last millennium or more. As Sufi Muslim devotees to an African saint and symbolic ancestor, their sacred songs praise him for bringing the gift of joy from the waves of the sea. Sharing this sacred gift by cheering and healing the suffering souls who come to their shrines is their divine calling and life-affirming talent. Goma is an ecstatic dance of praise retained and reinvented from African models and is emblematic for the name of the group: Sidi Goma joyful prayers, intense rhythms, powerful drumming, sacred fun and exhilarating dance.