5:30 AM to 7:30 AM
Jaswant Thada
Full Festival pass/ Day Pass/ J RIFF dawns pass Rs. 300/-

In Rajasthan, bhajans are not just songs — they are devotion, invocation, story, celebration and a lifeline of the people. They speak of love, courage, sacrifice, and faith. Imbued with an inner stillness, these recitations have a shared sacredness that brings together all communities, keeping alive the syncretic spirit of harmony that has been the tradition for centuries. From the villages to the grand forts, bhajans are woven into everyday life.

In the land of valour and resilience, songs and music give people the strength to endure, the will to survive and to stand together. The words carry the wisdom of saints and poets like Kabir, Dadu Dayal, Goraknath , Baba Ramdev and Mira Bai. Some of the bhajans remind us of folk deities – Pabuji, Tejaji, Ramdevji, Gogaji… others are often ‘nirguni’, odes to formlessness, attracting people from all spiritual persuasions, reminding people of their roots, their values, and their connection with the divine. This dawn concert at Jaswant Thada is more than music — it is an experience of Rajasthan’s soul. It is where history, devotion, and tradition meet and where the rising sun carries forward the timeless spirit of the desert.

Dayaram ji, a Dholi and Maand singer from Naguar, brings to a close this year’s festival with a concert of varied and sulful niguni songs. Blessed with remarkable vocal prowess, Dayaram ji is also an experienced artiste of Kuchamani Khayal, a form of Rajasthani folk theatre known for its ancient poetry, all-night recitals and resonant vocals.

The “Cuckoo of Rajasthan”, Sumitra Das Goswami, who grew up performing at all night Jagaras: nocturnal vigils, replete with devotional and spiritual songs, then joins Dayaram ji. A regular at Jodhpur RIFF, Sumitra is an internationally acclaimed singer, with a voice so magical that it seems to channel the mystic poet Meera Bai herself. She has collaborated with Mumford and Sons and Laura Marling, performed at the prestigious Berlin Philharmonie, and the Lincoln Centre in New York – all facilitated by Jodhpur RIFF. This dawn concert at Jaswant Thada is more than music — it is an experience of Rajasthan’s soul. It is where history, devotion, and tradition meet and where the rising sun carries forward the timeless spirit of the desert.

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