Rajasthan International Folk Festival (or Jodhpur RIFF or Jodhpur folk festival) is an annual music and art festival organized to promote traditional folk music and arts held at

Mehrangarh Fort Mehrangarh is a historic fort located in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. It stands on a hilltop, rising about above the surrounding plains, and the complex spans 1,200 acres (486 hectares). It was initially built around 1459 by the Rajput ruler of ...

Jodhpur Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

History

The festival was first organized as a

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

partnership between Mehrangarh Museum Trust and Jaipur Virasat Foundation in October 2007. The festival is timed to match the time of the brightest full moon of the year (which in Northern India is known as

Sharad Purnima Sharada Purnima (also known as Kumara Purnima, Kojagari Purnima, Navanna Purnima, Kojagrat Purnima or Kaumudi Purnima) is a religious festival celebrated on the full moon day of the Hindu lunar month of Ashvin (September to October), markin ...

). The chief patron of the festival is

Maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

Gaj Singh. The festival is organized in and around

Programming

The festival is planned to provide an open stage to all folk artists and musicians from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

as well as from the globe. Around 250 musicians and artists from Rajasthan and elsewhere attend this festival.

International attention

The festival is supported by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

as a "People's Platform for Creativity and Sustainable Development". In 2012 and 2013, ''

Songlines A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal cultures of Australia. They mark the route followed by localised "creator-beings" in the Dr ...

'' regarded RIFF as one of the best 25 international festivals.

2013 edition

The theme of 2013 edition of the festival was the ancient history of the Mehrangarh Fort which was selected as Asia's best fortress by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''. The year's featured performances include Afghani rubab player Daud Khan Sadozai, sessions on the culture of

Manganiar The Manganiar are a Muslim community found in the Thar Desert region of Rajasthan, India; mostly in the districts of Barmer and Jaisalmer, and in the districts of Tharparkar and Sanghar in the bordering province of Sindh in Pakistan. They are k ...

Marwar Marwar (also called Jodhpur region) is a region of western Rajasthan state in North Western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. 'Maru' is a Sanskrit word for desert. The word 'wad' literally means fence in Rajasthani languages. Engl ...

, the Rajasthani artists with

Dilshad Khan Dilshad Khan (born Arabinda Dasgupta) is a Hindustani classical singer and the husband of Begum Parween Sultana. Dilshad is the younger brother of eminent sarod maestro Buddhadev Das Gupta Early life and background Khan was born in Kolkata. D ...

, and

Manu Chao Manu Chao (; born José Manuel Tomás Arturo Chao Ortega on 21 June 1961) is a French-Spanish musician. He sings in French language, French, Spanish language, Spanish, English language, English, Italian language, Italian, Arabic, Catalan language ...

2015 edition

The ninth edition of Jodhpur RIFF was held from 23 to 27 October. That year, Grammy Award winners

Wouter Kellerman Wouter Kellerman (born 20 September 1961) is a three-time Grammy Award-winning South African flautist, producer and composer who has won nine South African Music Awards. Classically trained, Kellerman performs primarily World, Roots and New Ag ...

and Yossi Fine performed at the festival.

References

{{reflist Arts festivals in India Folk festivals in India Music of India World music festivals Rajasthani folklore Jodhpur