5:30 AM to 7:30 AM
Jaswant Thada
Full Festival pass/ Day Pass/ J RIFF dawns pass Rs. 400/-

Layla Tazhibayeva (Layla-Qobyz)
A virtuoso Kobyz player from Kazakhstan, Layla brings brilliant set to the Jodhpur sunrise. The traditional Kobyz, with a deep, meditative sound, is a sacred instrument of Shamans and spiritual medics in Kazakh and Turkish cultures.
The Kobyz reveals its two distinct sides in Layla’s hands. She draws out the pensive, melancholic depths of the traditional Kobyz, as well as the lively, dynamic spirit of the electric variant, moving between them with graceful fluency.

Gulzoda Khudoynazarova
Widely recognised as one of the most significant voices of Central Asia, Gulzoda Khudoynazarova is among the numbered few practitioners and interpreters of Uzbekistan’s Shashmaqam. Included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, Shashmaqam is a classical music tradition rich in vocal and instrumental music, melodic and rhythmic idioms and poetry. Paired with her magnetic stage presence and haunting voice, this 1000 year-old tradition comes to life at Gulzoda’s concerts and lingers long after she concludes. She is accompanied by Bekzod Safarov on the Dutar (a 2 stringed lute) and Farrukh Vohidov on Gijjak (Uzbek’s oldest bow instrument). Gulzoda herself sings while also playing the Doyra, one of Asia’s oldest percussion instruments.

This is Layla’s and Gulzoda’s premiere appearance in India

Limited time slots available, on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
Sign-up at the RIFF box-office
This first run of en route is for Full Festival Pass holders only.

An India debut, en route in Jodhpur is reimagined as a journey through the majestic Mehrangarh Fort and the adjacent blue city. An immersive, pedestrian-based mobile work, en route creates an experience where the personal and public, the imagined and concrete, converge. Designed for a single audience member at-a-time, this site-conscientious experience crafts a personal connection to place. Courtyards, quiet lanes and old-city streets, snippets of voice, music and fragments of poetry…all inviting us to see the space anew. en route stretches into the now, a journey beyond space and time as you move through a landscape of moments in motion, both discovered and co-created.

Please wear appropriate, weather relevant and comfortable clothing, and good walking shoes.

en route is presented by One Step At A Time Like This and Richard Jordan Productions in collaboration with Jodhpur RIFF and supported by Creative Australia and the Mehrangarh Museum Trust.

India Premiere

9.00 AM to 10.30 AM
Chokelao Bagh
Full Festival pass/ Day Pass

Sega / Maloya with Davy Sicard
Get set for a groovy and sensual boot-camp, dancing to the Sega and maloya tunes of Davy Sicard! Drawing from his Madagascan-Reunion Island roots, Davy Sicard discovers, embraces and reinvents creole music traditions, bringing them to vibrant life on stage – where its music and dance are indistinguishable from each other. These island music traditions, Maloya and Sega both have mixed-race origins, practiced and popularised by island cultures as not just an artform but as a vessel for socio-political expression and the stories of lived experiences.

Jodhpur RIFF presents rustic dance ‘bootcamps’, facilitated by noted practitioners and trainers. Short, intense, and rigorous, these camps will give participants an experiential insight into the movements and practice of traditional dance forms.

Please Note:
This is the one-and-only, stand-alone session of this form.
Please wear/ bring appropriate and comfortable clothing that allows free movement such as T-shirts, long/loose shirts or blouses, tights, loose track or harem pants or long skirts.
Do carry your own rehydration and drying material. Be prepared to sweat! It is a boot camp!!

9:45 AM to 5:00 PM
Venues throughout the Mehrangarh Museum
Museum Entry Ticket/ Full Festival pass/ Day Pass

Discover the myriad hues of the traditional dance forms of Rajasthan, reflecting its distinctive root traditions, some popular and some rare, including: Teraah Taali – known for agility and grace, where women move to and produce the reverberating sounds of teraah i.e. thirteen little cymbals or manjira that are fastened to their waist, wrists, elbows, and hands, simultaneously showcasing their skills of movement, balance and concentration; the Kalbeliya, a dance form that evolved when the traditional snake charmers of the state could no longer work with snakes; Khari Dance– revolving around a heartfelt dialogue between a couple, performed with a wooden basket called Khari; Tamak, or bam rasiya is a folk form from Alwar. Popularly performed to celebrate the harvest season, Tamak is characterised by huge Nagadas (Bam) that set the beat and the wooden sticks decorated with flowers and feathers that are used by the dancers; Bakri ka Mashak; the captivating vocals of Young Langa Musicians!

11:00 AM to 1:30 PM
Chokelao Bagh
Full Festival pass/ Day Pass

The music of Central Asia with Zhan Katseyev, Husniddin Ato, Layla, and Gulzoda

A virtuoso Kobyz player from Kazakhstan, Layla is well known for her bold cross-genre experiments. The traditional Kobyz, with a deep, meditative sound, is a sacred instrument of Shamans and spiritual medics in Kazakh and Turkish cultures. Layla developed the Electric Kobyz, a bold, dynamic reinvention of this ancient instrument. She has since paired and perfected the Kobyz with rock, pop, jazz, and electronic music, finding newer ways to bridge tradition and innovation, breaking stereotypes and inspiring younger musicians picking up the instrument. The Kobyz reveals its two distinct sides in Layla’s hands. She draws out the pensive, melancholic depths of the traditional Kobyz, as well as the lively, dynamic spirit of the electric variant, moving between them with graceful fluency.

Widely recognised as one of the most significant voices of Central Asia, Gulzoda Khudoynazarova is among the numbered few practitioners and interpreters of Uzbekistan’s Shashmaqam. Included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, Shashmaqom is a classical music tradition rich in vocal and instrumental music, melodic and rhythmic idioms and poetry. Paired with her magnetic stage presence and haunting voice, this 1000 year-old tradition comes to life at Gulzoda’s concerts and lingers long after she concludes. She is accompanied by Bekzod Safarov on the Dutar (a 2 stringed lute) and Farrukh Vohidov on Gijjak (Uzbek’s oldest bow instrument). Gulzoda herself sings while also playing the Doyra, one of Asia’s oldest percussion instruments.

Layla and Gulzoda will be joined in conversation with Zhan Katseyey – a leading promoter and presenter of Kazakh performaing arts, and Husniddin Ato, a teacher, an ace photographer and an expert in Uzbeki culture.

Jodhpur RIFF ’s interactive session series ‘In Residence ’gives the audience a rare opportunity to meet fascinating artists from various root traditions. The sessions encourage audience members to engage and discuss challenges, forms and traditional practice through performances, lecture-demonstrations and facilitated conversations. As more of Rajasthan and India ’s rich traditional cultural heritage disappears, Jodhpur RIFF puts the spotlight on some of its remarkable music forms and traditions (some nearing extinction) and opens dialogue to surface and explore how these challenges could be addressed.

5.30 PM to 7.00 PM
Jaswant Thada
Full Festival pass/ Day Pass/ Moonrise Pass Rs 500/-

Padma Shri awardee Satish Vyas is one of India’s foremost Santoor players The son and disciple of the late C. R. Vyas, one of India’s foremost vocalists, he brings a rare lyrical sensibility to the santoor – an instrument traditionally rooted in the folk traditions of Kashmir but has been beautifully reimagined in Hindustani classical music. Satish Vyas’s music carries the unmistakable imprint of the Shivkumar Sharma gharana of santoor playing – a balance of meditative alaap, intricate rhythmic interplay, and melodic improvisation rooted firmly in Hindustani classical tradition. Also a Sangeet Natak Academi awardee, he has been instrumental in taking the Santoor to global stages, having performed at prestigious stages such as the Edinburgh International Festival to the Aga Khan Museum.

Satish will be accompanied by the remarkable Paras Nath on the flute and Mukund Deo on the Tabla. Paras Nath is a globally renowned flautist, known for his masterful, classical renditions as well as his contributions to film music.

7:30 PM onwards
Zenana Courtyard
Full Festival pass/ Day Pass

Nagada Interlude
Nathulal Solanki is a master of the Nagada, a two-drum instrument with a treble-thunderous sound, unique in Rajasthan’s folk tradition. Rajasthan’s finest nagada player, Nathu ji brings to it a rare refinement: summoning its ceremonial power, yet shaping its tones with classical-sounding beats typical to instruments like the tabla. Traditionally used in temples or as a call to battle, the nagada has, over centuries, found its place in weddings and festive gatherings across the desert

Anita & Prem Dangi
Trained from a young age in Rajwadi Maand, the Dangi sisters are treasure troves of a vast repertoire of the traditional music of the Damami community from the western parts of Rajasthan. Perhaps one of Rajasthan’s most sophisticated style of folk music, Maand closely resembles Thumri and Ghazal in its classical likeness, and is extremely difficult to master. Extremely popular across Rajasthan, the Dangi sisters come from a family that has been the custodians of this form for generations. Anita and Prem were trained by their mother Ratani Devi and are among the numbered few who carry this form forward with such beauty and sensitivity.

Suonno D’ajere
This Napolitan musical quartet of Irene Scarpato, Marcello Smigliante Gentile, Gian Marco Libeccio, and Salvio La Rocca blend bold vocals with classical guitar, mandolin and percussion. The result is a dynamic, yet serene sound, fresh and ancient at the same time. Suonno D’ajere borrows its name from Pino Daniele’s 1977 song title that translates to The Dream of Yesterday. True to the name, their music, drawing freely from jazz and the blues, evokes great nostalgia of the traditional, classical Napolitan song traditions. Watching them onstage feels quite like travelling back in time. Their performance combines the dynamic energy of the live stage with the timeless beauty of classical music, never failing to leave the audience wishing for more.

Basel Rajoub
A Syrian-Swiss saxophonist, composer, and improviser whose musical vision bridges Middle Eastern traditions and jazz – Basel Rajoub holds many titles. As a multi-culture collaborator, Basel weaves melodies from across the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, and Europe, honouring centuries-old techniques while breathing fresh life into them. Although his primary instrument is a Saxophone, he has used his mastery of it to perfect several wind instruments like Duclar and Tárogató. The very first Aga Khan Master Musician, he is also director of the HEM Oriental Ensemble, a collaboration paying tribute to classical Arabic, Iranian-Persian, and Ottoman-Turkish repertoire. Deeply personal and political at the same time, his music is a testimony of lived experiences of fatherhood, exile, memory and cultural resilience. Later, Basel will also be sharing the stage with his friends SAZ – Sadiq, Asin (a recipient of the Aga Khan Music Award) and Zakir Khan Langa, giving us a taste of what could be the makings of a fantastic collaboration.

Davy Sicard
Drawing from his Madagascan-Reunion Island roots, Davy Sicard embraced Creole music traditions at a very young age. These island music traditions, Maloya and Sega both have mixed-race origins, practiced and popularised by island cultures as not just an artform but as a vessel for socio-political expression and the stories of lived experiences. Owing to this deep-rooted history of the tradition he draws from, Sicard’s music has an unmistakably rustic, nostalgic charm, while also being irresistibly groovy. Traditionally played at social gatherings, this is music that truly evokes a sense of community and makes you want to sway and sing along. Although known for his calm, charismatic stage presence, it’s impossible to separate Davy Sicard’s songs from dance. His performances almost always start off steeped in bittersweet nostalgia and inevitably end up with the crowd on the dance floor.

Nicotine Swing
When Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli combined swing jazz with Gypsy virtuosity in the 1930’s, a new style emerged and Gypsy jazz was born. Returning crowd favorite from Jodhpur RIFF 2017, Nicotine Swing is – Giuseppina Moltino, Ignacio Hernandez, Cameron Dempsey and Juan Cardarello. Having started out as a Gypsy Jazz band from Tenerife, Spain, for almost 2 decades now, they have been perfecting their personal style, a heady mix of gypsy jazz and swing music with original songs in both Spanish and English. Their music has been experimenting across genres, forging a style highly nostalgic of the base genres, now and then with a dash of tango and funk. Listening to Nicotine Swing is like taking a journey to experience the charmed old music, performed in the warmth and intimacy of speakeasies and night-clubs in the past. Infectious, foot tapping music at its best!

Midnight onwards
Zenana Courtyard
Full Festival pass/ Day Pass

RIFF Rustle is our largest, impromptu collaboration performance that concludes the festival’s night-time revelries. Every year, the festival appoints a musician as a ‘rustler’, who then rustles up other musicians from the festival to participate in this performance in pairs or quartets or all together. This year’s rustler is Colombian DJ Killabeatmaker, supported by Rhys Sebastian, saxophonist par excellence, Rhys Sebastian. Both will work together to gather musicians at the festival to come and jam with each other while collaborating with other artists including the Dhol Drummers, khartal and dholak masters and other Rajasthani musicians. Who’s to say what can happen when they all get together!