Conversations

Every month we converse with musicians who have carved a niche for themselves and have mastered the art of playing instruments with passion and showmanship.

On this page titled 'Conversations,' we feature heart warming and soul stirring conversations with musicians from different parts of India and overseas. Get to know more about musicians & music artists, the instruments they play, their inspiring stories and the music they make. 

Vocalist Anouska Sivashankar Shares her Story

15 June 2021

This June 2021, we feature Anoushka Sivashankar, a talented young vocalist based in Mumbai. Anoushka will be releasing her debut song in a few months. Let's find out a little more about this exuberant music artist. We caught up with Anoushka on a telephone conversation to chat about music and her journey from being a young child artist to her most recent stage performances. 

                         

Q. Tell us about your introduction to music. At what age did you start learning music, and what genre of music did you begin with?

Anoushka Sivasankar: When I was eight or nine, I started going to Indian classical music classes that were held in a club nearby. When my dad would get transferred, I constantly used to shift between Carnatic and Hindustani vocal music. When I was in Mumbai, I would do Hindustani music, and I would do Carnatic music when I was in Bangalore because it is more common in those areas.

Q. When did you take up Western music?

I distinctly remember this one time when my dad showed me a video of Adele performing at the Grammy Awards. She was singing 'Rolling in the Deep.' I really liked the song and the singer Adele. I never used to listen to Western music at all. But after that, I moved on to listen to classic singers like Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. I started listening to the classics. 

We recall chatting with Anoushka Sivasankar a few months back.Here she is with her first debut single. 

 'Song of the Seas,' premiered on YouTube on 10 September 2021

'Just Like You'- premiered on YouTube on 4 October 2024

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“The ghumat is the recognition of our own land” says ghumat player and instructor Suraj Pinge

22 November 2020

Earlier this month, we struck up a conversation with a musician who hails from Goa. He is a real estate agent by profession, a musician by heart and is always brimming with enthusiasm and creativity. Suraj Pinge introduces us to an instrument that is very close to his heart; the ghumat. Suraj is known for his excellence in playing the ghumat, his unique teaching style and his profound knowledge about the instrument.
 

 

 

Q: Tell us about the instrument you play. 

 

Suraj Pinge: Ghumat is an instrument that is very dear to me as a Goan because it is the recognition of our own land. If you remove Goa from the map and insert the picture of a ghumat, I think that’s the best definition of the ghumat and identity that Goa can get. Goa with its full pride owns the ghumat. Secondly the ghumat is made out of mud. The earthen wear is the soul of the ghumat. If you break the word ghumat, you get 'ghum' and 'mat'. In the Konkani language 'mat' means mud of which the earthen wear or the pot is made of and ‘ghum’ is the peculiar sound it creates because of the monitor lizard's skin on it. The texture of the monitor lizard's skin has a very unique sound wave creating quality which creates the sound called the 'ghumi.' When you play the ghumat, the first sound which comes is 'ghum.' It’s like a hard beating sound within the pot. So 'ghumi' is the name of the percussion instrument itself and when put together 'ghumi' and 'mat' together, it gives us the name ghumat.

Q Besides Goa, where else is the ghumat played?

 

Suraj Pinge: Ghumat is played in Karwar, it is used in Sindhudurg which is on the border of Maharashtra and Goa. The migrants who moved to Maharashtra during the Portuguese regime, took the ghumat from Goa to different places in Maharashtra.

Q. During which festivals is the ghumat played? 

Suraj Pinge: Ghumat playing usually begins in the temples during Shravan, Chaturthi and continues right upto Navratra.  The ghumat is also played during festivals like Holi and Suvari during Shigmotsav. When we talk about the Lokmand of Goa or the folk forms of Goa, ghumat is played in each and every folk form of Goa. The best thing about the ghumat is that it has no caste, no creed, no religion. Ghumat is played during Christian weddings and festivals, like the 'ros' ceremony (before a Christian wedding), during the Goa Carnival, the harvest festival, during cantaram, tiatr and khel tiatrs. 

Q. When was the first time you were introduced to the ghumat?

Suraj Pinge: I had first seen the ghumat at my native house in Pirna (a village in North Goa). My paternal uncle, played the ghumat along with the other elders in the family. I was in the first or second standard. We would go to Pirna to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi. That was when the ghumat was played and it was limited only to the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. When we had the ghumat been played before us once a year, the curiosity of getting to know the instrument increased, but I never held the ghumat back then. I started liking the ghumat when I visited my mother's native place in Talaulim, Ponda. As the ghumat is made out of clay which is mother earth, I learnt ghumat in my mother's village so there is a motherly connection that I have with the ghumat.

Q. When did you begin to learn the instrument?

Suraj Pinge: My mother's native village Talaulim has a ghumat playing culture. I went there to spend my summer holidays, Diwali and Chaturthi vacations. I also did my higher secondary education in Talaulim. During that time, I got attracted and attached to the ghumat. I became passionate about it to such an extent that if I had to hear the instrument being played from afar, I would run to it and start playing it myself. So I started learning the instrument when I was 15 years old while I was studying in Talaulim.

Q. Can you elaborate on the ghumat learning process?

Suraj Pinge: Ghumat is a very complex instrument but at the same time it is simple to play. I am contradicting my own statement and I’ll explain why. As a percussion instrument ghumat is very complex. Sometimes your hand starts bleeding when you play it. Once you start bleeding that is when I tell my students that they have learnt to play ghumat. This is the moment when the person who is playing the ghumat is so connected with it that he forgets the pain. When I say it is complex, the way it is played is complex and the way it is played is different from other percussion instruments like a tabla, a dholki or a pakhawaj. We follow the same 'taal' (rhythm patterns), all the 16 beats are definitely followed, but the way we create those 'taals' for the ghumat is completely different from other traditional or contemporary percussion instruments. At the same time it is very simple to play the ghumat because there are few 'bols' involved. So that’s why I say that learning to play the ghumat is complex and at the same time simple due to the few 'bols' involved in playing the instrument.

Q. Tell us about your first ghumat performance and other memorable performances?

Suraj Pinge: My first performance was in a temple in Khedem, Savoi-Verem. It was an All Goa Ghumat Arti competition just before Ganesh Chaturthi. I was representing one of the ghumat groups from my maternal uncle’s village in Talaulim. I have also performed along with my students at Kala Mandir in Ponda, which was a huge hit in Goa. I have taken my students to play ghumat at top Ganesh pandals in Mumbai, Pune and Shirdi. My students have played at the International Film Festival of India, the Lok Utsav festival at Kala Academy and many other venues.

Q. Tell us about your ghumat compositions ?

Suraj Pinge: The simplicity of the instrument gives you so much of freedom that you can actually experiment with it and have a creative approach to it. I had created a folk presentation with ghumat in it and all the other folk forms where ghumat is used. Right now I do compositions wherein I write the lyrics, I write the tune, and put down the entire composition and arrangement of the ghumat and how it will be played along with other accompanying instruments. My most memorable composition is the one I did as a tribute to Lord Bodgeshwara. Some of my compositions have become very popular in Goa. When I scanned YouTube, I noticed that some of my compositions have been used widely by students and other musicians in and out of Goa. It gives me a proud feeling to see my compositions becoming popular. My family and well wishers are encouraging me to start documenting my compositions in the form of a book which I intend to work on in future. 

 

Q. What prompted you to become a ghumat instructor? 

 

Suraj Pinge: I started teaching ghumat at the age of twenty two. I participated in competitions along with my college friends who also encouraged me to start composing new beats for the ghumat. The passion that I had for this instrument also gave me a push to start composing and experimenting new ways of playing the instrument. There were different ghumat playing competitions and when you have competitions the growth is phenomenal. Later, students started approaching me to teach them. 

Q. Tell us about your students and what is the level of enthusiasm among Goans to learn the instrument?

Suraj Pinge: My students already come well prepared to play the ghumat, I just teach them new taals and new bols, new ways of compositions and then I take them forward. I have students in the age group of five to fifty years. There is no age bar to learn the ghumat. I have merit students who are medical doctors, professors, architects, engineers, business entrepreneurs, computer whiz-kids. I must also mention that my students include boys and girls. Even girls are equally passionate and enthusiastic in learning the ghumat. 

Q. Tell us about the finer elements that one should consider while playing the ghumat. 

 

Suraj Pinge: When you play the ghumat with a classical form in mind such as during ghumat artis, you have to put your hand firmly on the ghumat and place it in such a way that it plays a loud sound. There are two openings on the instrument. The large opening is where you tie the monitor lizard’s skin and the other small opening is where you control the ghumi. It is played in a technical form and as you learn this it comes naturally. I have been playing ghumat for 28 years now. I have never broken or torn a ghumat skin. I tell all my students to stop playing the ghumat if they tear the skin. You have to take care of this instrument. It is not easy to tear the skin but if you play in the wrong manner you might tear it. I would like to mention that when you play the ghumat you are holding it next to your heart so your heart is connected with the ghumat. It is the only musical instrument which is played by keeping it close to the heart. When you play the ghumat with passion, you will never break or tear the ghumat especially the skin. The pot might break and you can create it again with mud, but never play in such a way that the skin of the monitor lizard tears or breaks. 

Q. You have headed two private radio stations; one in Goa and the other in Pune. Did you also incorporate ghumat in radio shows and programmes?

Suraj Pinge: Firstly, to get into radio, ghumat helped me in a big way. For a person to head the programming section of a radio station, music plays a very important role. If you are a musician and if you play a music instrument that is from your own native place it means a lot. I remember when we were involved in launching a private radio station in Goa back in 2007, we had to launch the station with Goan content and folk music had to be included in the programming content. When we scripted the station promos for the station launch, ghumat was included prominently in the production of promos and other content. In fact we also had live ghumat artis (with the ghumat being played) on the morning show. When I headed a radio station in Pune we had a tie-up with Ganesh pandals and I remember inviting a group of ghumat players from Goa to play in Pune. The response we received was phenomenal.

Q. Are ghumats easily available in Goa? 

Suraj Pinge: Now there is a replacement of the monitor lizard's skin with the goat's skin. The sound that the goat's skin creates is almost the same as that created by the monitor lizard's skin. The monitor lizard's skin has a very rough texture. The sound created by it gives the ‘kharj’ sound which gives the magical sound of the ghumat. After the replacement with goat's skin, there has been a lot of ghumat production in Goa. I have seen ghumats been sold even on the roadside during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. You can buy a ghumat in the range of ₹ 700 to ₹ 1200. Thus, it is easily available and affordable.

Q. What ideas and suggestions do you have to promote the instrument further ? 

Suraj Pinge: Right now I am trying to create more mentors. There are less ghumat mentors in this field and we need more instructors to go out and teach. The teacher versus student ratio is such that for 100 groups there are only five or six mentors. At present, there are more than 200 ghumat playing groups in Goa.  I am encouraging my students to teach the ghumat.  I had also organised workshops in different colleges and higher secondaries on how to compose ghumat artis and we got an excellent response. We completed four colleges and we had 30 more on the wait list but due to the pandemic we have not been able to continue with the workshops. 

Q. The ghumat was declared as the heritage instrument on Goa in 2019. What is your reaction to this initiative taken by the Government to declare the ghumat as Goa’s heritage instrument? 

Suraj Pinge: As a musician or even as a lay person it is a proud moment for Goa. When I was growing up, I would see the elderly generation (50 plus age group) playing the ghumat. Over the years, ghumat has gained so much of popularity that all age groups have started playing the instrument. The promotion has been good, thanks to government organizations, music maestros, music groups, students and the small music mandals who have kept this Goan tradition alive and are passing it on from one generation to the next. 

 

About the Artist: 

Suraj Pinge has worked as programming head at Radio Mirchi, Goa and  Radio City Pune. 

He can be contacted on his facebook page 'Sooraj Pinge'