PANAJI

Used in folk and traditional Goan music, Ghumot will soon be notified as a “heritage instrument of Goa”, Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude told reporters on Monday.

“We will declare Ghumot as Goa’s heritage musical instrument in a few days,” he said.

The musical instrument is designed as a clay pot, with the skin of the monitor lizard stretched taut across the pot’s mouth, forming a drumhead.

Since Monitor lizards are classified as an endangered wildlife species the state forest department had banned the use and sale of the instrument.

Recently, the makers of the instrument started using the skin of a she-goat due to which there is a rise in interest towards Ghumot.