Transition from old to new is never easy, especially when the old has been in existence since ages. Then suddenly one has to shun it and embrace the change. This is exactly the situation with the stakeholders of Goa’s heritage folk musical instrument ghumot.
Ghumot is a percussion instrument of earthen vessel with both its sides open. On the bigger opening a drum membrane is mounted, traditionally made of monitor lizard skin. Monitor lizard is a scheduled animal under Wild Life Protection Act, 1972; therefore, using its skin is a cognizable and punishable offence.
In August 2019, the Goa Government gave heritage status to the instrument, sans the monitor lizard skin. Now, alternative animal skins, like that of goats, are used for the purpose and are fastened around the mouth of the pot with cotton string. It has saved lives of thousands of monitor lizards.
But how are the stakeholders of this instrument - including the musicians, sellers – coping with the change? What kind of issues they are facing?
“We are now using goat skin on ghumots instead of monitor lizard. But the thickness of goat skin is less and the sound quality falls during monsoon as goat skin gathers lot of moisture. It plays well when the weather is hot and dry,” says Anthony Fernandes, ghumot seller from Mapusa.
He said that there are numerous enquiries for ghumots made of monitor lizard skin as the traditional users find the sound quality superior. But sellers like him encourage buyers to take the instrument with goat skin.
“As a social responsibility, we don’t encourage sale of ghumots with monitor lizard skin as it is banned and we care for the environment,” Fernandes says.
Veteran ghumot player Inacio Madeira says since monitor lizard is an endangered species, as a percussionist he is adjusting to the new sound.
“The beat you get on monitor lizard skin, is not the same with goat skin. But we have to accept the change. We have to take care of this ghumot even more than before. Those who have played on the older instrument, they will find the difference. They will find it difficult to adjust to the change. But the new generation won’t know the change. They will adapt faster. I appeal to all ghumot users to buy the new version for the sake of saving our environment,” Madeira says.
Former member secretary of Kala Academy and expert in Goan traditional folk art forms, Pandurang Phaldesai says that in earlier days the moisture problem used to be tackled by hanging the ghumot on top of the kitchen fire place.
“Traditionally, there used to be huge fireplace in the kitchens where the ghumots could be dried. But now shrinking houses and switching over to newer methods of cooking does not allow heating to happen in kitchen. But one can have a small fireplace inside the house compound to dry the instrument,” he says.
Popularly known as ‘festokar’for organising fests in Divar island, and other places in Goa, UK based Goan Marius Fernandes spearheaded this movement to give the ghumot its due credit and worked persistently to make the Ghumot a heritage instrument of Goa. According to him, the ban has not only saved thousands of monitor lizards but also succeeded in preventing the instrument from getting extinct.
“Our biggest achievement is that we have been able to save the lizard and instrument from getting extinct. The Ghumot was an underground instrument since 1972. So it could not be purchased or owned openly. There wouldn’t have been any instrument available for the younger generation,” Fernandes says.
However, according to him due to the persisting issues with the goat skin in terms of sound quality and maintenance, there is a need to gradually use synthetic skin as used in several other percussion instruments.
“Goat skin is still made of a living being. For future, we need to have a synthetic membrane that would sound almost like the original one made of monitor lizard skin. But such a membrane can’t happen without proper research, technology and investment from government,” he says.
Maurius’ son Ashley Fernandes has done his research on such an alternative. Ashley Fernandes done his two year degree at The SAE Institute (SAE, formerly also known as the School of Audio Engineering and the SAE Technology College) and presented his research titled ‘Investigating Sustainable Alternatives to the Monitor Lizard Skin Membrane for the Ghumot’.
While there are some teething issues in the transition process, but in the long run the change is going to benefit all stakeholders of ghumot.