Divya, Festival Director of Jodhpur RIFF, discusses this year’s highlights, gender equality in folk music, the debut of a ‘dance evening,’ and the creative process behind the annual RIFF Dawns concerts.
Jodhpur RIFF, India’s globally renowned roots music festival, is back with a promising lineup that brings musicians from around the world to Jodhpur’s magnificent Mehrangarh Fort. Scheduled to be held this year from October 26-30, marking Sharad Purnima and the year’s brightest full moon, Jodhpur RIFF 2023 will showcase the best of Indian and global roots music, dance, and interesting collaborations between artists.
In this interview, Divya Bhatia, Festival Director, Jodhpur RIFF talks about the key attractions this year, gender equality and representation in folk music, the first ‘dance evening’ at Jodhpur RIFF, and the process behind creating the magical RIFF Dawns concerts every year.
Excerpts
Q. What will be the key attractions this year at the Jodhpur RIFF?
A. Amongst the numerous highlights at the festival, here are some not-to-be-missed performances – Barnali Chattopadhyay, Dayam Khan, Kalbeliya women and Smita Bellur’s vocal sets; Pandit Vikku Vinayakram’s family set; the two collaborations that SAZ have – one with kathak danseuse Tarini Tripathi and the Cool Desert Project with Saxontoast; the moonrise concert with Avadhoot Phadke; the Rajasthani folk instrumental specials – kamaicha, the sarangi, khartal, dholak and bhapang; the international acts and our dawn concerts
Q. How do you look at gender equality and representation in folk music? Also, tell us about the women artists we will get to see in action at the Jodhpur RIFF this year?
A. The rural and folk performing arts traditions have always been inclusive in their attitudes, but they have been deeply affected by modern social mores and economic-cultural shifts outside their control, often creating an askew gender representation. From its very inception, Jodhpur RIFF has been aware of this and has responded sensitively and whole-heartedly to be as widely inclusive as is possible. This year too we will see a mother-daughter duo Ganga and Sundar Devi; Raina Peterson who identifies as non-binary; leading folk singer Sumitra Devi; Banarasi maand vocalist Barnali Chattopadhyay; kalbeliya singers Sugna Devi, Mohini Devi and Asha Sapera; Sufi artist Smita Bellur; dhol players Swarangi Savdekar and Yaminee Khamkar; Italian lead vocalist Irene Lupe Scarpato of Suonno d’ Ajere; lead vocalist Alejandra Charry from Nkumba System; Chonta DJ aka Alejandra Gomez; kathak dancer Tarini Tripathi and numerous other women folk dancers.
Q. You also have a non-binary artist Raina Peterson who is presenting a dance performance. What’s the larger message the festival is trying to propagate?
A. The festival is the message. Jodhpur RIFF’s ethos has always been inclusive; what an artist chooses to identity as, doesn’t inform my decision to have them in the festival. When I saw Raina’s performance in Melbourne and decided to invite her to the festival, I was unaware that she chose to identify as non-binary. We’ve had artists from the LGBTQIA+ communities in the past, who chose not to be out and we have had crossdressing performers from Rajasthan, Kashmir and central India who have regaled our audiences in all their brilliant finery. Our wonderful friend and confidante, the late Queen Harish, performed regularly at Jodhpur RIFF. But we’ve never had a gifted artist who has reflected on the ‘in-between’ in this way, as young and contemporary Mohiniattam artist Raina has, with minimal aesthetic, cool music and a big heart. The story of Narasimha has so many layers, but is rarely explored any more. So they and this piece are a discovery, a perfect fit in our ‹Indie Roots› slot and we are very happy to present them.
Q. The Jodhpur RIFF this year will feature the first ‘dance evening’ at Jodhpur RIFF, with Kathak dancer Tarini Tripathi and Raina Peterson. What prompted the choice of a dance evening at Jodhpur RIFF?
A. We have always had dancers at the festival – folk, national and international. Dance has been an integral part of the festival. There are dancers at our Bal Mela, at the Fort Festivities and our dance boot camps. We have had Kalbeliya, belly dancing and Polish and Hungarian folk dance workshops, and flamenco collaborations. Since last year, what is new in my exploration is the ‘indie’ flavour and context within Jodhpur RIFF, so we created the Indie Roots program. Which is how a ‘dance evening’ has emerged with two extremely different performances, one a Kathak collaboration with folk artists, the other a contemporary Mohiniattam piece.
Q. Also tell us about Tripathi’s collaboration with SAZ. What were the challenges this collaboration faced?
A. I saw Tarini perform and was very impressed. And the possibility of an unusual collaboration began to emerge. I then invited her to a performance by SAZ and an impromptou jam began right after, with her and with Zakir, the young khartal maestro. That sparked some more ideas and before you knew it, we had set rehearsal dates and work began in earnest. This is a festival commission, a work-in-progress, which we hope could lead to a full length performance. The performance pieces were challenging and a great learning experience for both artists as there was so little each knew about the other’s traditions. There is very little real interaction between Indian classical and folk traditions. So SAZ have had to learn each kathak rhythm patterns and Tarini has had to learn SAZ’s melodic structures and the meanings of old songs. And they have created some exciting new work together. Sans any classical accompaniment.
Q. Jodhpur RIFF’s Dawn Concerts have always been very special. What is the process which goes into creating the RIFF Dawns lineup every year?
A. The dawn concerts are generally the hardest to curate. And there are more dawn ‘slots’ than any other slot. And the festival ends with a dawn concert. There was a time in our history when people were up before the break of dawn, and would be singing or playing music when the sun came up. Regularly. But that rarely happens today, and hasn’t been happening for some time. Most musicians have no practice or experience of performing at that hour. So it is a big task for any musician or vocalist to commit to a dawn concert and be one with the elements and the audience, at that hour. In any case, they would prefer to be in bed and avoid a 4.30 AM sound check.
Every first dawn concert is always by Meghwal folk artist/artists. This has been the case for the last 15 years. Then, for the other days, I try and get a mix of some folk, a classical, some contemporary international and look for something telling or iconic for our closing concert. Annie Choying Drolma, Bahauddin Dagar, Prahlad Tipaniya, Vidya Rao and T M Krishna and the Jogappas are some of the artists who have closed Jodhpur RIFF. This year, we end with the legendary Sharma Bandhu and ‘Tera mera, mera tera…’