Folk goes feminine: Female musicians take centrestage at Jodhpur RIFF roots music festival – Lifestyle News

Maewa Sapera, Mamta Sapera, Prem Dangi, Hanifa Manganiyar and Kamla Bhatt are all folk musicians from Rajasthan, carrying on their independent musical traditions. But when they sat together at the majestic Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur this week, each asking “why do I do what I do?” and answering the question, the diversity seemed to converge on a common theme — the increasing presence of female folk musicians at international festivals in India.

In its 17th year, the Jodhpur RIFF (October 16-20), one of the biggest international roots music festivals in the world, assembled an array of women musicians representing different traditions and genres from folk to classical and Sufi to soul. The strong line-up of female folk musicians at the festival this year include the well-known Rajasthani folk singer Sundar, who joined her equally illustrious daughter Ganga to open the festival on October 16. 

“Ganga and Sundar are breaking gender and social norms by reclaiming their space in folk music,” says festival director Divya Bhatia, a statement that sums up this year’s women-dominated programming of Jodhpur RIFF, previously the Rajasthan International Folk Festival now called by its acronym. “The women are the custodians of the folk songs in their communities,” he adds, referring to the practice of passing on the oral heritage to the next generation in the rural communities.

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“I learned folk music by listening to my mother sing at home everyday,” says Rajasthani folk musician Prem Dangi, who sang Khelan do ae bayaan (Let me play sisters), a Marwari song describing a woman’s household. “My identity is my art,” beams Dang, a Master’s in classical music and a former national-level kabbadi player.

Ho ji re tiddiya re laal (Yes, I am a locust and I am red),” sang Kamla Bhatt, also a Marwari song, urging locusts swarming farms to not eat the crops as the vast talent pool of female folk musicians from the Manganiyar, Langa and Kalbeliya communities in Rajasthan was on full display at the sessions spread across the festival programming. 

“The future is women. A lot of women are singing in these difficult times and times of change,” says Jaipur-based artist Supriya, who joined filmmaker Surichi Sharma to bring five female Rajasthani folk musicians in a site-specific, immersive experience titled, Why do I do what I do, at the Jodhpur RIFF, devotional songs on Meera Bai. “They sing from the guts,” adds Sharma, who explores themes of heritage and sustainability in her films. 

“The folk music ties all of these women together,” remarks Akanksha Narang, a travel industry entrepreneur from Delhi, who travelled to Rajasthan to attend the Jodhpur RIFF this year. Among the five musicians attending the session, Why do I do what I do, was Mamta Sapera, a member of the Kalbeliya community who played khartal, a wooden clapper traditionally played by male Manganiyar and Langa musicians. “It is unusual for a woman to play the khartal,” says festival director Bhatia. “I wanted to do something different. Everybody sings and dances in our Kalbeliya community,” says Sapera about her choice to not pursue the popular Kalbeliya and Ghoomer dance and music practised by her nomadic community.

Rajasthani singer Sumitra Das Goswani, one of the early advocates of intercultural music in India through her collaboration with English folk singer Laura Marling and and British folk band Mumford and Sons for their Dharohar Project commissioned for Jodhpur RIFF a decade-and-half ago, raised the pitch of the festival with her devotional songs on Meera Bai. Rajasthani Banjara folk singer Mohini Devi, among the early female musicians from her Kalbeliya nomadic community to take up professional singing, set the tone by leading a group of emerging Manganiyar musicians and established Langa musicians from the many desert villages of the state at the festival. 

The line-up also included Mumbai-based singer-dancer Aditi Bhagwat, who brought Maharashtra’s 18th century Lavani — a shepherd song and dance — to Jodhpur, Barnali Chattopadhyay, a Hindustani vocalist of Banarasi Maand and a well-known name in the thumri tradition who presented a selection of works of 13th century poet-composer Amir Khusrau, Hindustani vocalist Anuja Zokarkar, Sukanya Ramgopal, the first woman ghatam player in Carnatic music, Kathak dancer Tarini Tripathi, and Sona Mohapatra, an ardent practitioner of Desi Soul music.

It was not only about defying norms, but even sustaining and reviving ancient arts too, led by women. One of the highlights of the Jodhpur RIFF was a performance of Koodiyattam, one of the oldest living theatre traditions of the world in Kerala, by Kapila Venu. “Kapila Venu has been involved in teaching and performing this dramatised worship form for several decades now. Her practice is an ever-evolving attempt at experimenting beyond the traditional possibilities of the ancient artform,” says Bhatia. 

Among the participants of the Jodhpur RIFF from abroad this year include Mauritian multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Emlyn Marimutu, whose music combines African, Malagasy and Indian traditions, Zimbabwean-born musician Louis Mhlanga, considered one of the finest African jazz guitarists, and Estonian folk band Puuluup, a Eurovision song contest semi-finalist this year.

Author Faizal Khan is a freelancer.