'Ghumat' beats on way to revival transcending gender barriers

The beats of 'Ghumat', the Goa's oldest musical instrument, which had gone into near obscurity, are being heard again with a music lover trying to encourage women to play it, overcoming traditional gender boundaries.
The ghumat is a kettle or pumpkin shaped percussion instrument with the wider top opening covered with a membrane. In earlier times, the skin of monitor lizard was used as the covering.
It was traditionally played by men during the festivals of Hindus and Christians, and the latter's weddings.
But the efforts made by Marius Fernandes, 56, have now passed on the instrument into the hands of women, who are enthusiastically learning to play it.

He along with his son Ashley began the research on the ghumat in Goa in 2000.
Fernandes, who resides in Panaji, recalled how a law passed over four decades ago in the early 70s classifying monitor lizard as a protective species led to the instrument almost disappearing from the social scene.

"We never used to see this instrument during the day time. It was seen only at night in some temples (during the aarti)," he said.
Ashley, who was pursuing a course in sound engineering in 2000, then ventured into a project at the SAE Institute in London to find a sustainable alternative membrane, instead of the monitor lizard, for the instrument.

The result is evident now with the ghumat having the covering of the goat or sheep skin or a synthetic material, thus pulling it out of obscurity it had gone into due to the conservation laws.
About a year ago, Fernandes organised a festival at Siridao village, near Panaji, where for the first time he handed over the instrument to a young girl.
Since then, he has been travelling to colleges, meeting social groups and teaching young women how to play it.
During a workshop Carmel College For Women near Margao town last year, 69 girls came forward to learn how to play the instrument, which was made available to the students at a very reasonable price, Fernandes said.

Similarly, at the Nirmala Institute of Education in Panaji, 60 young aspiring teachers are learning how to play the instrument, he said.
"As a woman it is empowering to learn how to play the ghumat. It was a historic moment for us when we held the ghumat in our hands and started playing it. The beats of the ghumat were already in our blood," says Jane B Fernandes, a student from the institute.
She said every Goan has been listening to the beats of ghumat since childhood, so it is not difficult to learn it.
Another student, Tanya D'Costa, said it was always her dream to wield a ghumat, which was always seen in the hands of men.

Renowned historian Pandurang Faldesai said passing on the tradition of playing the ghumat to women will go a long way in popularising it among the next generation.
"The women will encourage the next generation to play the instrument," he said.
Faldesai lauded the efforts made by Fernandes in promoting and popularising the instrument.