African Sindhis in Chicago perform Dhamala--traditional ode to Jhule Lal (Laalu)

[Gul Agha <agha@CS.UIUC.EDU>]

For a discussion of African Sindhis, see
http://yangtze.cs.uiuc.edu/~jamali/sindh/sindh-l/archive/her/msg00824.html

Excerpted from:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-dance25.html

DanceAfrica performance a homecoming for folk culture
October 25, 2004

BY KEVIN NANCE Staff Reporter

DanceAfrica Chicago, whose 14th annual edition took place last weekend
at the Chicago Theatre, is more than a series of mostly traditional
African dance concerts. It's a family reunion of sorts -- a
homecoming, in fact, for the far-flung strands of African folk culture
throughout the world.

As at most such gatherings, the feelings that coursed through the room
on opening night were those of long-lost relatives suddenly
reunited. Wave after wave of love washed from the audience to the
stage and back, carrying with it the message: Oh, how good it is to
see you again...

Sidi [pron. Shiidii] Goma, an all-male troupe of African Sufis
descended from slaves who were brought to India centuries ago,
performed "Kari [Kaarii] Damal," a lively and gradually accelerating
drumming dance in honor of a Sufi saint. Dressed in skirts made partly
of peacock feathers and arranged in a constantly shifting circle, the
chanting men took turns in the center spotlight, each bringing a
unique (and often comic) persona to a series of ritualized movements
derived from coconut cracking, fire-walking and hunting.

Their heads swiveling and bobbing like bantams, their shoulders
shimmying and their faces (decorated with slashes of white makeup)
sporting an arsenal of grins and gargoyle-like grimaces, the dancers
beamed a disarming and infectious glee. The cultural distance between
their world and ours, which on its face is vast, evaporated in a
minute; they might as well have been a bunch of guys in Nikes goofing
off in a playground. Again, welcome home...