The forgotten music of Rajasthan
Mehrangarh fort of Jodhpur was voted as the best fortress in Asia by Time magazine. It is spectacular. While Ray made the fortress of Jaisalmer famous with his film Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress), Mehrangarh owes everything to the vision of its royalty. For the last ten years the Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF) is timed to coincide with Sharad Purnima – the full moon night in the lunar month of Ashwin.
What makes this festival magical is the way the sun and the moon are blended in with music to create magic. The Mehrangarh fort becomes like a giant movie set where the forgotten music of Rajathan is offered to a global audience.I wanted to hear the dawn concert. So I showed up at 4:30am at Jaswant Thada, a cenotaph built in 1899. This milky-white marble memorial to Maharaja Jaswant Singh II, sitting above a small lake 1km northeast of Mehrangarh. The courtyard is covered with mattresses and bolsters. I can see the silhouettes of the singers of Meghwal community against the outline of Mehrangarh.
They are sitting still like statues. The moon is reluctant to go away. Hot tea is being served. At 5:30am sharp the Tandoora players start the concert. The eastern sky is still dark with just a hint of red. The bhajans of Meera, Kabir and Ram Dev Pir fill the sky. The final bhajan is sung at 7:30am. The Meghwals describe three kinds of people in the audience: Oonghiyo (those who doze); Sunghiyo (those who are sniffing around in the audience looking for familiar faces) and Poonghiyo (those who absorb the music). The host jokes about a possible fourth category called “Selfiyo” (those who are only waiting to click selfies).From 10am till 5pm, the fort is sprinkled with folk dancers who perform dances specific to different parts of Rajasthan like the Chang, Terah Taali 
and the energetic dances put up by the Kalbeliya gypsies of Marwar. The Kalbeliyas are famous as snake charmers. The dance is performed to the sound of the pungi (the instrument synonymous with snake charmers).I head off to listen to the different forms of storytelling that have been the preserve of folk artists. The stories are about local heroes, lovers getting separated and united. The highlight was the performance by Sawan Khan Manganiyar. He narrates the story, pauses to sing a few bars in his full throated voice and then smiles as he takes you through the twists and turns of the story. I went backstage to catch up with the man. He tells me about taking his work to a global audience. He describes the world of the Bhopa, the priest singers who perform in front of a painted scroll, known as phad or par in Rajasthani that depicts the life of folk deities serves as a portable temple.Here’s a Sawan Khan singing for Coke Studio (recording of any performance is not permitted during the festival)https://youtu.be/z4vtCuw2774The fort is usually closed to visitors in the evening after sunset. Today it is different. The setting sun is making the Mehrangarh fort look mysterious. I am waiting to hear the two living legends, Kadar Khan and Lakha Khan. They are both in their seventies and are among the twenty odd people in the world who play the extremely complex Sindhi Sarangi. There are 26 strings in a Sindhi Sarangi. It is also referred to as “Sarangiya Langa” since it is primarily played by members of the Langa community. The two Langa brothers Kadar Khan and Lakha Khan leave the audience spell bound. This time it is moon who is witness to the performance.https://youtu.be/vZefNFiL4XUThe post dinner performance is in another section of the fort. This section was once the preserve of the royal women. It is the Zenana courtyard. The sky is full of stars. It is the eve of the full moon. We begin with solo performance by the Maand singers Chiranji Lal Tanwar, Praveen Sabrina Khan and Shamsuddin Khan. Parveen Sabrina Khan sang a Maand composition based on Raga Des. Chiranji Lal sang a lesser known version of the ever popular Kesariya Balam. https://youtu.be/eoTNVK_o6j4The stage is cleared for the Brian Molly quartet. Brian is an incredibly skillful saxophone player who spent time understanding the music of langas and manganiyars and blending it with jazz. The jazz saxophone, flutes, clarinet, drums and keys blend seamlessly with the traditional instruments of the tribes like sindhi sarangi, khartal, dholak and morchang to create magic.The festival is now in its tenth year. The majestic Mehrangarh fort becomes a stage. The audience moves across the various nooks and corners to discover the forgotten music of the land of warriors and musicians. What you see there are artists who showcase their art without having to pretend to be entertainers. You may have missed ten years of magic. Be there for RIFF 2017.Have you witnessed folk music in all its glory? Tell me about it. Leave a comment.
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