Ever since its inception, Jodhpur RIFF has consistently tried to encourage and take forward the culture of folk music. Festival director Divya Bhatia talks to Riya Sharma about highlights of the four-day fest
A woman singing song of a dress that she has made for her camel and the relationship that the camel and the dress share is one of the numerous themes that the folk musicians in India sing about. The bond between a camel and hisgorbandh is out of context once the woman singing it leaves her roots behind and breaks away from the bond of folk music which she has cherished all through her life.
This is the general predicament of folk musicians in India who, in search of better opportunities, move away from their roots and take up a genre of music that they don’t believe in.
With the aim of providing a centre stage and much deserved respect to the folk musicians, Jodhpur RIFF was founded in 2007 by Mehrangarh Museum Trust and Jaipur Virasat Foundation. “At a time when Virasat Foundation was struggling to find a way to consistently work with folk musicians, the Maharaja of Mehrangarh offered his fort to organise this festival,” said Divya Bhatia, festival director.
The annual festival which is going to run from October 23-27 this year, will have iconic instrumentalists and Rajasthani musicians who would be seen collaborating with international singers.
Talking about the growth of the festival, Bhatia shared, “There has been a certain growth for sure. We are not denying it but there has never been steep increase or decrease in it, either. We have been able to generate income for a lot of artistes and similarly we have been able to increase the number of our audience.”
Through the festival, they have tried not only to bring Jodhpur into people’s radar but have also tried to bridge the gap in the minds of the locals. “People believed that whatever happened inside the fort were for tourists. We wanted to break that image; we wanted to do something for them in their own geographical context and wanted to promote their own art form,” explained Bhatia.
The major problem, he recalled, was organising such a festival in a city where folk culture oozed out from all corners. “People didn’t see folk musicians as musicians. We are actually working against the conventional mindset where we don’t want audience who are coming for the sake of coming but rather those who can appreciate the music.”
For singers to have a sense of belonging, the fort witnesses no decoration during the festival. “The reason we organise it in a fort is because it is rustic and the artistes have always performed in villages where it has always been the simpler setting. So, why do we take away their context from themIJ For a lot of people it is about hype and creating a décor which is flashy but we don’t believe in delivering any false hopes,” Bhatia said.
Elaborating more on their conditions, he explained how the present generation is making sure that the next generation doesn’t take the legacy forward. He explained, “A musician himself is ensuring that the music is not continued. Artistes who move from a village to Jodhpur or Jaipur lose the context and the soul disappears. Then it becomes a form, and a style which is no longer folk.”
As the festival ends in four days, how is the organisation making sure that the continuity of their profession and culture follows. “We are trying to create a sense of continuity, by inviting press so that it reaches to a wider audience who can know about these musicians. We use the press in the beginning to inform. Only 2,000 may come and attend the fest but after it, there are thousands who would be reading about it and that is more important,” he explained.
Bhatia very clearly stated that he doesn’t want people attending the festival if they don’t believe in it. “We don’t work around the idea of a brand, the whole idea of brand is to do with identification against others. We are not competing with anyone. We have an identity, but we don’t think of ourselves as a brand. We want to be known for quality, consistently good performance and great experience,” said Bhatia.
He added, “Ten years ago, people were not ready to spend money on folk musicians but now they are ready. We know we are doing very little but at least we have been able to get them their share of respect and earning that they deserve.”
The festival which also includes international singers will have two Grammy award winners this year. Though the involvement of these singers do not steal take the essence of the real festival. Bhatia explained, “People who come to the festival come to listen to folk and not international music. We introduce international acts who otherwise are not so popular. People are buying tickets even without knowing who is going to perform.”
“Through our work we are trying to save the roots of a tree where others are busy thinking about the fruit that the tress is going to bear. For this purpose, we are organising workshops to train these artistes and we plan to take these workshops to the villages,” concluded Bhatia.