Jodhpur RIFF 2013 will present works of Gypsy All stars, featuring some of the original gipsy kings, their children and others apart from the collaborations between Rajasthani, Australian and Scottish artists. Karan Bhardwaj spoke to the festival director
Jodhpur might have lost its cultural legacy to royal palaces and grand weddings of international superstars over the years. But of late Jodhpur RIFF (Rajasthan International Folk Festival) has brought its cultural ethos back to life. The festival is providing a global platform to the local musicians who were previously performing only at the special occasions in the city. Now, they collaborate with the international artists. For these reasons, the folk festival, for last four years, has been continuously featuring in prestigious magazine Songlines as one of the best 25 music festivals across the globe. Divya Bhatia, the director of the festival says, “It’s been an output of hard work and continuous efforts. I am glad that we have a determined approach, clear vision and focus, great patrons, regularity of delivery and a committed core team. That’s all you need to make any event a super success.”
Before the festival kick started in 2007, Jodhpur was known for weddings, royal life and its handicrafts. But now, RIFF has become its biggest identity. “Earlier, it was never really a destination. Now people come to this city for the festival and stay for a weekend. Most of the guest houses and hotels remain packed. There is definitely an increasing economic impact of RIFF. For last two years, we are having our opening concert in the main market area, which is called Ghanta Ghar bazaar. last time, over 6000 people attended it. We also organise Bal Mela in a public park (Nehru Park) where a lot of activities are held for children. last year, over 2800 school children attended the mela. We encourage the schools directly to take part in this activity. For this year, we think a bigger space will be required which we are still figuring out. RIFF holds dawn and dusk concerts around the Mehrangarh Fort. That’s also one of the key highlights of the event,” he says.
Bhatia started his artistic career in 1989 with Naseeruddin Shah’s theatre company Motely. Since then, he has been active in theatre, films and music nationally and internationally. For the last few years, his main focus is to grow RIFF. This year, there is a special focus on the Manganiyar community; an exploration of the work of Kalpana Patowary and her compilation The legacy of Bhikari Thakur — considered by some to be the Shakespeare of Bhojpuri. “We are also getting two international groups from Europe who both have accordions and fiddles but no percussion in their bands. There’s a regular focus on some rare Rajasthani instruments. We are presenting the work of the Gypsy All stars, featuring some of the original Gipsy Kings, their children and others; collaborations between Rajasthani and Australian and Scottish artists,” he shares.
In 2007, some 600 people attended the festival. last year, the number of footfalls shot up to 11000 for the free event. However, the director says it is premature to compare the festival to other international fests.
“We are very young. India has just started hosting musical fests. Also, there are obvious limitations of the city which have become our strong points. Abroad, governments support such dos. But we haven’t received any financial grants from Rajasthan state for last three years,” he says. Though the RIFF never ran out finances, there are sponsorship challenges for the organisers. “The biggest interest for a sponsor is celebrities. But for us, our artists are the real celebs,” says Bhatia, who was among the five personalities who designed the Hidden Garden in Glasgow.