Strains of folk music at Jodhpur's RIFF

Rich, varied folk music from the villages of Rajasthan and elsewhere in India and abroad are set to enthrall the city of Jodhpur, which is set to host edition eight of Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF).
Hosted annually at the grand old Mehrangarh Fort, the festival held in autumn during the days of the brightest moon has this year got together artists from Africa, Brazil, Crete, Reunion Island, Senegal, Australia and Scotland among others.
The five-day festival is scheduled to begin on October 8.
"We are trying to inculcate all types of available folk music in India. This year we have invited for the first time two young bauls - Noor Alam Fakir and Subhadra Sharma to celebrate the rising sun with their songs and music," says Divya Bhatia, Director, RIFF who is an eminent artistic consultant, actor and theatre producer .

Bhatia says with the changing times it has been a challenge for folk artists to package themselves in a suitable way to cater to the international music markets.
"I think right now when it comes to Rajasthani folk musicians; we need to see more qualitative improvement from the packaging point of view so that the world music market is open to them. It may take time for them to come up to international standards of packaging," says Bhatia.

With an aim to provide a platform for the various genres of folk music in the country and not only Rajasthani folk music, organisers say they have plans to promote artists from different regions in the near future and plans to target cities too.

"Last year we had Bhojhpuri artists singing. So we are trying to bring in other folk traditions to the platform," says Bhatia.
"If the world is saying film music is where the money is or be it rock or pop where people make more bucks then why will anyone learn folk music?
"More and more folk music needs to be presented and more needs to be heard. It's too easy to dismiss it as a mere rural and ancient art form. The need of the hour is that people must educate themselves about folk music," Bhatia told PTI in a recent interview.

Calling the event as the best place to "experience a heady mix of rustic riffs, root textures, contemporary arrangements and global rhythms" Bhatia says the festival is "a must-do" on every music lover's calendar.
"Every year we try to bring together various folk artists from world over so that we can bring something new to the festival platform," says Bhatia.