Music Tourism- The next 'big bet' for Rajasthan.

by Nitesh Mathur

Rajasthan, a place reckoned for its historical legacy, splendid forts & palaces & jaw dropping desert landscapes, furthermore is acclaimed for its diverse music repertoire.  The princely state of India is henceforth, one of the most versatile & most visited tourist destinations in the country.  With over 35 million tourists visiting the desert state every year, its needless to mention that 'tourism' is indeed fueling the growth of Rajasthan.

Fort Mehrangarh, Jodhpur. 

With the increase in digital literacy to smaller towns & villages, to a larger extent, has proved fundamental in taking the rich music culture of Rajasthan to music lovers across the world.  A folk musician sitting in a nook deserted corner of Jaisalmer, has now attained a basic understanding of shooting an audio/video sample of his voice & uploading it on YouTube or Facebook.  Besides music junkies, this has also stirred tremendous interest in the international musicians to visit the state, collaborate with the folk artists & produce newer sounds that has a global listener-ship.

A group of Rajasthani folk musicians.  

Owing to the same, Rajasthan in past few years has seen a rise in the number of music festivals being organized in different cities.  The royal family of Jodhpur, under the aegis of HH Gajsingh Ji has been vividly instrumental in promoting the rich music culture of Rajasthan through a series of music festivals; thus contributing a fair bit to the state's economy.

The first one being the most talked about in the festival circuit is the Rajasthan International Folk Festival, fondly termed as RIFF. It is an annual music and art festival organized to promote traditional folk music and arts, being hosted at the mighty Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur. RIFF is a not-for-profit partnership project involving two of India’s leading heritage trusts: Mehrangarh Museum Trust and Jaipur Virasat Foundation. The festival has been endorsed by UNESCO as a “People's Platform for Creativity and Sustainable Development”

With HH GajSingh Ji of Marwar-Jodhpur being the Chief Patron & legendary 'Sir Mick Jagger' being the International Patron, Jodhpur RIFF features more than 250 musicians and performing artists from across India and overseas who come together and celebrate Rajasthan's rich musical heritage, create music through innovative collaborations accompanied with an interesting fusion of international and local folk music and exciting performances based in and around Fort Mehrangarh. The festival has been vouched as one of the best 25 international festivals by Songlines.

Morning Raga at RIFF, Jodhpur.   

Second in the series is the Jodhpur Flamenco Gypsy(JFG)Festival. The festival’s main objective is to promote the link between the Rajasthani folk musicians and the legendary Flamenco and Gypsy artists that live around the world. JFG’s goal is to create a platform where musicians and dancers can share their talents and trace their musical roots back to India and to document this unique passage.

A dancer at JFG Festival. 

The prestigious sites of the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur and the Ahhichatragarh Fort in Nagaur open their doors to an extraordinary sacred and historical musical journey called the “World Sacred Spirit Festival”. Being endorsed by the illustrious English musician- ‘Sting’ as the Festival Director, the event brings together amazing artists from across India and around the world in a stunning royal setting. The 2017 edition of the festival will once again be held at the breathtaking Nagaur Fort (13 - 15 February) before moving to the massive Mehrangarh Fort perched above the city of Jodhpur (17th & 18th February). 

Sufi ensemble at World Sacred Spirit Festival.

Days and nights of magical music, dance and poetry lit under the sparkling incandescence of a thousand candles with inherited and spiritual arts, taking you to the very origin of a tradition, is indeed a traveler's delight & hence draws audience from around the world in huge numbers.

Moving on to the contemporary side comes the much deserved mention of Magnetic Fields Festival, a musical carnival set within the historical & decadent Alsisar Mahal, a 7th century palace in Shekhawati, Rajasthan.  The 3 day festival takes pride in urban underground electronic music acts with a carefully curated light and visual design. The event considerably grew in size & has attracted a large deal of Indian & foreign tourists in last few years.

Magnetic Fields Festival, Alsisar Haveli. 

The state also drew eyeballs with the entry of the big fish- The ‘Sunburn’ Festival.  Slated as Asia’s biggest dance music festival, Sunburn opened to pack crowds in Jodhpur & Jaisalmer with its one day format called The Sunburn Re-Load.The event received tremendous response from the young students & professionals & witnessed a great tourist movement from Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad & Surat. 

Sunburn Reload at Jodhpur. 

Rajasthan being the biggest state in India holds a diverse cultural landscape that practically changes at every 100 Kms. The folk, the ballads, the devotional songs forms the core of its culture & hence is receptive to all kinds of music. A recent example of sort can be –Sandstorm, the first nightclub introduced in the city of Jodhpur by ITC Group of Hotels, receiving a thunderous response from the city breds. The club, being acknowledged for its experimental music gigs has been successful in introducing genres like psychedelic, techno, tech-house & D&B with famed Indian & international artists to the 'CulturalCapital of Rajasthan' 

Ma Faiza at Sandstorm. 

The evolution in music happenings in Rajasthan can also be mapped with ‘Sandscape’, an annual music residency being hosted in the rustic barrens of a village called- Khuri near Jaisalmer that recently saw notable artists like Mash, Sickflip, Lucid Raaga & United Machines, collaborating with the local musicians, recording folk sound samples & eventually blending it with their respective style of music. An effort of this sort certainly points at the origin of a ‘new music’ that is truly global in nature & has more receptiveness across the world. 

Sickflip at Mama's Resort, Khuri, Jaisalmer with Rajasthani Folk musicians

The music festivals directs at a completely different financial ecosystem that employs a great deal of people & delivers value not just to the audience or the event organizers but to a diverse scale of stakeholders including the travel agents, the hoteliers, the taxi service providers, the local shopkeepers, tentage & decor providers, small & big F&B vendors at large.

With prominent festivals like Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), Desert Festival- Jaisalmer, Pushkar Balloon Festival etc adding more value to their events through live music performances, we must expect a considerable rise in Rajasthan’s domestic & international tourism in the coming years.

Well it’s indeed music to my ears!!

* The writer is the CEO & Founder- Universal Selective, an integrated brand marketing consultancy based in Rajasthan. The article is an excerpt from Highborn Magazine.