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Photographer’s Note:
“I’ve been photographing RIFF from its inception in 2007. The city concert introduced in 2009 was a very special addition. The very concept of a concert organized for the whole city to partake in, in a place where communities can come together, has become increasingly rare in India. The folk artists traditionally performed for either their patrons— the erstwhile rulers of princely states that merged with India in 1947, or for the ‘lok’, the common folk. The city concert in Jodhpur wonderfully merges both these traditions, with the former Maharaja of Jodhpur who is the chief patron of the festival sitting amongst the people who gather in hordes for this free-for-all concert. Unlike the rest of the festival the show for this concert is curated slightly differently. There is a little more emphasis on spectacle and mythical folklore, with fire-eaters, jugglers and performers of all kinds joining the folk musicians and international artists on stage. The first city concert was held at the Fateh Pol— one of the gates of Mehrangarh Fort that link it to the old city. Thereafter, every year, it has been organized in the heart of the old city, by the clock tower. The magic, chaos and energy that transforms that bit of the city on that one night can hardly be adequately captured, but here is a slice of it.”
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