International roots musicians to share stage with Rajasthani folk artistes at Jodhpur RIFF

New Delhi, In its 18th year, Jodhpur RIFF music festival will host a bouquet of global roots musicians at the iconic Mehrangarh Fort, featuring artistes from 12 countries, including India, Bhutan, Uzbekistan, Poland, Colombia, and Portugal.

International roots musicians to share stage with Rajasthani folk artistes at Jodhpur RIFF

Starting from October 2, the music festival will put the spotlight on centuries-old folk traditions and instruments from across the world, with music of Rajasthan’s Langa, Manganiyar, Damami, and Meghwal artistes at its centre.

Jodhpur RIFF will host Manganiyar legends like Lakha Khan on the 27-stringed Sindhi sarangi and vocalist Sawan Khan, along with Bhutanese artiste Sonam Dorji, Syrian-origin saxophonist Basel Rajoub, Finnish folk artiste Emilia Lajunen, and Chennai-based jazz fusion group Jatayu.

Speaking about the upcoming festival, director Divya Bhatia said that Jodhpur RIFF has championed roots music by “respecting heritage, facilitating the drive to innovate and working with unwavering conviction that music is a live conversation across time and space”.

“The festival fosters connections; our approach brings people together through the charm and magic of music in a remarkable setting, irrespective of language, region or genre. 2025 lifts this very spirit even higher, inviting audiences to listen more carefully, to open up to legacy and to hear the freshness that each performance contains, experiencing how living traditions can remain timeless while speaking vividly to us about today,” he said.

The festival’s popular dawn concerts will host a variety of artistes from the mellifluous ‘Meghwals of Marwar’, featuring Mahesaram Meghwal, Bhutanese composer-vocalist Sonam Dorji, Kobyz player from Kazakhstan Layla Tazhibayeva, and Uzbekistan’s ‘Shashmaqam’ musician Gulzoda Khudoynazarova.

The dawn concerts will introduce to the audience some of the traditional instruments used in different parts of the world.

From tandura, jhanjh, and manjira accompanying Mahesaram to Tazhibayeva’s bowed stringed instrument kobyz, and stringed lute dutar, spike fiddle gijjak, and percussion instrument doyra to be used by Khudoynazarova’s troupe of musicians.

Other Rajasthani artistes at Jodhpur RIFF will be Manganiyar brothers Ghewar Khan, Darre Khan, and Feroze Khan, presenting the soulful sound of string instrument kamaycha, sisters Anita and Prem Dangi from the Damami community, who are trained in Rajwadi maand, and the trio SAZ – Sadiq Khan Langa on dholak, Asin Khan Langa on Sindhi sarangi and Zakir Khan Langa on khartal and vocals.

The SAZ trio will create separate collaborations with Kathak dancer Tarini Tripathi for ‘Inayat: A Duet for Four’ and Mumbai-based saxophonist Rhys Sebastian for ‘The Cool Desert Project’.

“The extraordinary range and skill of Rajasthan’s folk artists places them among the finest roots musicians in the world. Their music is a reflection of a lineage going back generations, but also a living, evolving art form, one that some are boldly reinterpreting for today’s generation,” Maharaja Gaj Singh II of Marwar-Jodhpur, Patron of Jodhpur RIFF, said in a statement.

The festival will also feature four-member band Jatayu from Chennai, known for creating a fusion of Carnatic ragas, jazz improvisation, and rock’s raw energy with electric guitar riffs, intricate percussion on kanjira and mridangam.

While Basel Rajoub, a Syrian-origin Switzerland-based artiste, will present a showcase of the rich modal traditions of his homeland and the fluid improvisations of contemporary jazz, musician Helder Moutinho will present traditional Portuguese fado music with new compositions.

DJ and producer Killabeatmaker will bring to the festival a fusion of Afro-Latin beats, deep bass, and electronic texture in his collaboration with Colombian and Rajasthani percussionists, while Emilia Lajunen will channel the trance-like spirit of Finnish folk through her fiddle playing.

Other artistes to perform during the five-day festival will be santoor exponent Satish Vyas, tabla player Aditya Kalyanpur, multi-instrumentalist Karolina Cicha from Poland, Davy Sicard from Reunion Islands, music band Ars Noval Napoli from Naples, Napolitan musical trio Suonno D’ajere, and Canadian singer-songwriter Luke Wallace.

The festival will also be host to ‘fort festivities’, day-long cultural activities featuring different traditional dance and music forms of Rajasthan, including teraah taali, Kalbeliya dance, Khari dance, and the captivating vocals of young Langa musicians.

Jodhpur RIFF 2025 will come to an end on October 6.

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