ANNUAL REPORT 2012

The last few months have been a transitional phase for JVF considering the restructuring of the JVF office and the shifting of the office from Ramesh Marg to Diggi House. In the middle of February, the office shifted to its new premises with minimal office equipments and the basic requirement. All excess materials have either been stored at the Anokhi Farm or at Dr. Rima Hooja’s office. We would like to thank Rima, John and Faith for providing us all the support in shifting the office.

In the last one year, the JVF team has worked on quite a few field trips and projects. Given below is a brief about each of these.

KABIR YATRA – Momasar, Shekhawati region February 22 – 24, 2012

The possibility of conducting the Kabir yatra in was discovered last year when in February 2011, Ms. Shabnam Virmani and Professor Linda Hayes (USA) from the Kabir Project approached JVF to meet and interact with a few Kabir singers from the rural Rajasthan. Vinod Joshi from JVF planned a two day trip to region. The basic purpose of the trip was to go to the villages and witness how people remember Kabir in their day to day life and sing/ recite about him. The villages that they visited were Aspalsar, Hariyasar, Boghera and Molisar Bada. In these villages, they met with Kabir singers and heard their folk songs and . After this trip, Kabir Foundation felt that they could organize the likes of Kabir Yatra in the Bikaner region. They picked up a regional institution, Lokayan Sansthan, Bikaner, to do all the ground work of organizing the Kabir Yatra in Rajasthan. The people involved with the Lokayan Sansthan are very well aware of the work of JVF. They have attended many of the regional festivals organized by JVF. After witnessing the Momasar regional festival in September 2011, our regional coordinator from Bikaner, Dr. Srilal Mohta said that the starting point for the Rajasthan Kabir Yatra will be Momasar. JVF has constantly been in touch and has very good relations with the people of Momasar. JVF had also organized the regional festival in Momasar in the year 2006 and 2011.

Kabir Yatra was conceptualized and started in the year 2010 by Kabir Project Foundation from Bangalore. In 2010 and 2011, it was organised in Madhya Pradesh. It started from and ended at Indore. It is a week long yatra. Prahlad Tipaniya, follower of Kabir, from the Malwa region was the leader of this yatra. The main purpose of this activity was to connect to the root

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persons who sing and recite Kabir bhajans. The yatra is attended by researchers, followers of Kabir, Kabir singers from India as well as foreigners. National artists who sing kabir bhajans are also invited for the yatra. Regional Kabir singers are also a part of this activity.

MANGANIYAR MILAN UTSAV – Hamira village, Jaisalmer February 27 – 28, 2012

Over the years, the Foundation has presented the manganiyar artists at the Heritage International Festival and the Jodhpur RIFF (Rajasthan International Folk Festival). While working with the community, we felt that it was very important for us to understand all the traditions of this caste and community. The Manganiyar artists also felt a need for the persons of their caste and community to be able to get together at some place to meet and interact and discuss with each other. So, we decided to do a get together of all the Manganiyars at Hamira village, Jaisalmer. A two day Manganiyar Folk artists get together 2012 was organised in association with the Manganiyar Lok Sangeet Sansthan, Hamira, and Jaisalmer. It was attended by 120 manganiyars from the Jaisalmer and Barmer district. It was also attended by a few of their patrons. The dates were 27 – 28 February, 2012. This date was decided keeping in mind the availability of most of the artists in their villages. It is that time of the year when most of the artists are at home and not out for work.

CHITTORGARH/ UDAIPUR/ BANSWARA VISIT April 23 – 27, 2012

The main objective of the trip was to locate and meet the lesser known castes and communities of the particular region of Rajasthan. Such trips are learning trips for us as we get to meet the communities in their original habitats and get to witness their original day to day working. During our trip, we met a few tribal communities which are very different from the communities that we are working with presently. Their music, dance and instruments are all

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different. Their instruments are prepared from the basic things which are available in their region. The highlight of the trip was the Kathodi tribe – their artforms as well as their instruments.

BIKANER VISIT May 5 – 6, 2012

The main objective of the Bikaner trip was to find some women singers. In past one decade of JVF’s existence and outreach in the rural community, we have realized that we have not come across many female artists. Most of the women artists found by JVF are above the age of 50 yrs. To reach out to more women singers, we decided to visit the region of Bikaner and listen to a few female vocal artists of the region. The trip was quite successful as we listened to some of the most beautiful voices of women singers.

MOMASAR FESTIVAL September 29, 2012

Momasar is a five hundred year old village, 260kms north-west from Jaipur and 100kms from head quarter, in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan with a population of approx. 12,000 people belonging to different castes. Momasar is famous for its Geendar festival which happens during Holi every year. The association of JVF started in 2004 when a team from JVF, along with a few guests, visited Momasar to attend the Geendar Festival.

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Momasar Festival, this year, presented 12 teams of artists in front of the local audience. More than 100 artists of the Shekhawati region were a part of these 12 teams. In addition to the 12 teams from Shekhawati, there were 4 more teams from the other regions (, , and ) of Rajasthan. More than 175 artists were presented in the festival. The festival witnessed an audience of approx. 12,000 – 15,000 people. The audience included people from nearby villages.

JODHPUR RIFF October 26 – 30, 2012

Now in its sixth year, RIFF continues to present some of Rajasthan’s finest traditional performers alongside exceptional artists from around the globe. This year, while we engaged more with Rajasthani percussion, we also got closer to – the Kathodi of and the Kalbeliya of Marwar, in our ‘In residence’ interactive sessions. Little is known of these communities outside of Rajasthan and we feel privileged to be able to facilitate an engagement between them and our audiences. This year, we had our first desert lounge – an all acoustic, Rajasthani folk night, under the full moon and stars, in the Rao Jodha Park. Jodhpur RIFF also presented living legends from around the world – Mark Atkins from Australia on the didgeridoo, Grupo Cimmarron from Colombia, Burhan Ocal and the Istanbul Oriental Ensemble from Turkey, Kaela Rowan, Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson from Scotland, and many more. A young upcoming band from Sri Lanka, Naadro, was also presented on the RIFF Main stage. Overall, RIFF was a magical experience. The last night of the festival was the highlight with the Scottish artists followed by Naadro. The RIFF Rustle was superb, left audience asking for more. This year, RIFF was visited by more than 1000 – 1200 persons. We sold donor passes worth Rs. 18.5 Lakhs approximately. This year RIFF was also special, because of a new partnership with the Celtic Connections, Scotland – the biggest folk festival of the northern hemisphere. RIFF has signed a 3 year contract with Celtic Connections, wherein RIFF will be presenting a few Rajasthani folk artists at the Celtic Connection in 2014. To facilitate this, the RIFF this year was attended by the Scottish Minster for Culture, Ms. Fiona Hyslop.

OTHER ACTIVITIES Performance at the Alchemy Festival 2012 at the Southbank Centre, London – April 15, 2012

A group of 14 Rajasthani artists were invited by the Southbank centre to perform at the Alchemy festival in collaboration with Pete Lockett and Tim Garland. The collaboration of Pete Lockett with Rajasthani artists was first presented at Jodhpur RIFF 2010 followed by a performance at the JHIF 2011. Initially 15 artists were invited, but unfortunately due to non- availability of a few passports on time, the visas were delayed and only 9 Rajasthani artists could travel to UK. The artists were accompanied by Vinod and Sharon. The artists had a rigorous rehearsal schedule from April 12 – 14, and then the performance on April 15, 2012 at

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the Queen Elizabeth Hall. The performance was loved by all, leaving the audience wanting more and more. It was attended by John, Faith and Divya.

Diamond Award for Nemi Baba

Jaipur Virasat Foundation and Mehrangarh Museum Trust had presented Nemi Baba at Jodhpur RIFF 2011 in the ‘Living Legends’ session. Nemi Baba is 108yrs old and plays the algoza. He is the oldest active folk artist in the country. National media had written many positive things about him. Taking inspiration and information from all this and for Nemi Baba’s contribution towards Algoza playing, a Mumbai based organization, ‘Sh. Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha’, the largest cultural institution in India, has decided to honour Nemi Baba with their ‘Diamond Jubilee Award’. The award will be presented to him on 17th July in Mumbai by the ex President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He will also be awarded a cash prize of Rs. 2.5Lakhs. This amount is the biggest prize money that any folk artist has received till date. Nemi Baba is the first folk artist to receive this big prize money.

Prabhu Lal’s visit to JVF office

In April, during the Udaipur visit, the JVF team visited the village Jaada Akala, Panchayat Panarwa, Tehsil Jadoll. Over here the team witnessed a performance by the Kathodi tribe. Prabhu Lal is the person who coordinated all this. He has been working with the different tribes of the region for the past 10 years. He is a teacher there and has very good knowledge about the tribals in the region. It is very difficult for us to work directly with these tribals as they are nomads. Prabhulal had organized everything before our arrival. He had collected a group of tribals from different hamlets of the region. We saw an authentic group performance by the Kathodi tribals. These tribals have never performed anywhere officially. After witnessing their performance, we felt that they could be presented at Jodhpur RIFF 2012. For this purpose, John suggested that we organize a 5-day camp of the Kathodi tribals where 25 of them get together alongwith their children. The get together will be a kind of rehearsal time for them to prepare them to perform at Jodhpur RIFF. Prabhu Lal was given the responsibility of organizing the camp and he was asked to present a budget for the same. The tribals donot even have proper clothes for such performance. Traditional dresses will also be organized for them through a shop in Udaipur (the only one shop that keeps the dresses of the Kathodi tribe). Prabhulal had come to the JVF office to discuss the budget and details of the camp.

Meeting with Emily Harrisson from Mewsic (A Brett Lee Foundation)

Emily Harrisson is a consultant who is managing Brett Lee’s foundation, Mewsic. It is a foundation wherein they try to educate and empower the slum children and under privileged children through music. For details about Mewsic you can visit their website www.mewsic.in.

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Emily is in conversation with us to start a new program with Mewsic. The program will be based on the Guru-shishya parampara. A seven day residential camp to be organized, monthly, at a central place, which is easily accessible by the teachers and the students both. It will be a pilot- project for the first year starting with 5 teachers of different artforms and 5 students for each art form. These students will be trained for 12 months and then maybe they can be presented at the Jodhpur RIFF. Everything is at the planning stage. The fundraising will be done by Mewsic. Emily will forward us a concept not about the program. She has requested us to introduce her to prospective funders from Rajasthan.

Deeg Festival September 18, 2012

Like every year, this year also, JVF financially supported one of the folk evenings at the Deeg Festival. Naveen and Neeraj traveled to Deeg for the festival and supervised and coordinated the folk performances on 18th September at the Deeg Festival. Approx. 80 folk artists were presented at the festival.

Performance at the Parramasala Festival 2012 Parramatta, Australia – November 9 - 10, 2012

Parramasala is an international contemporary arts festival that celebrates the global impact of South Asian arts and cultures. The city of Parramatta comes alive with vibrant arts and entertainment including music, dance, theatre, comedy, film, markets and visual arts from around the world.

Asin Khan ( player) and Bhugra Khan (Khartal player) travelled to Australia to collaborate with Jeff Lang (Guitarist) and Bobby Singh ( player) and perform at the festival. Their concert was named ‘Maru Tarang’. The sublime strings of the guitar and the sarangi and the percussive power of Singh’s tabla and Bhugra Khan’s Khartal work in perfect harmony with haunting Rajasthani vocals to create this unique combination of traditional and contemporary sounds. This collaboration was earlier facilitated in India in November 2011 and then invited to perform at the Parramasala Festival in Australia. It was presented as a Jodhpur RIFF presentation. As per the feedback received from the organizers in Australia, Asin and Bhungar did a brilliant job and their work was well appreciated. The artists were accompanied by Divya.

Performance at the Blue Frog Club in Mumbai October 18, 2012

In the month of October, a group of seven artists traveled to Mumbai to perform at the Blue Frog Club in Mumbai. It was presented as a Jodhpur RIFF presentation. It was kind of a pre party to inform audiences about the upcoming RIFF. Neeraj Kadela accompanied the artists to Mumbai. The performance was much appreciated by the audiences at the Club.

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DUMRU – The Drums Festival of India, Pune, Nov 2012 The program got cancelled due to closure of Pune city due to the death of Shri Bal Thackeray

The Pete Lockett collaboration with the Rajasthani artists was to be presented at the DUMRU – The Drums Festival of India. 15 folk artists were to travel to Pune to rehearse with Pete, before performing on 24th November. The program was cancelled as the festival had to be postponed due to the death of Shri Bal Thackeray (Politician and head of Shiv Sena). The festival was rescheduled for December 2012, but due to non availability of Pete, the program was cancelled.

Pushkar Festival organized by Mr. Ravi Sharma December 1, 2012

Vinod, Naveen, Digvijay and Neeraj went to Pushkar to attend the Pushkar Folk Festival organized by Mr. Ravi Sharma. The festival was financially supported by a small amount of money by Mr. John Singh. The festival was organized to promote the folk arts of Rajasthan and presented approx. 60 – 70 artists.

Kothari Wedding Anniversary Celebrations January 2 – 5, 2013

Just a few days back, the well known Kotharis celebrated the 50th wedding anniversary for Mr. & Mrs. Navrattan Kothari. It was a gala event which was attended by about 2,000 guests from all over the world. As a part of the celebration, a Rajasthani Mela was organized at the Jaigarh. It was an immense success and the folk artists’ performance was loved by all. The artists also performed at Jal Mahal and Kotharigarh as a part of the gala celebrations.

Rajasthani Mela, Kolkata January 23, 2013

A group of people from Kolkata organized a Rajasthani Mela in Kolkata on 23rd January. Since a lot of people living in Kolkata have their roots in Rajasthan, a Rajasthani Mela was organized. JVF was approached to present the Rajasthani artists. Approx. 50 artists along with 4 JVF volunteers traveled to Kolkata. The performance there was well appreciated and everybody was left asking for more.

Songlines Magazine

This is the most read and considered the best magazine for World Music. RIFF has once again been featured as amongst the Top20 festivals of the world and for the third time we feature in the Calendar. We are the only Indian Festival to feature.

Artist recordings at JVF office

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Sugana Ram Bhopa – Ravanhattha + vocals Pukhraj Bhopa – Vocal assistant Village – Bhakrani, Tehsil Luni, District Jodhpur Songs – Pabuji/ Bhomiaji Dayaram Bhaand – harmonium + vocals Rajan Bhaand – Village – Merta, District Nagaur Songs – Maand, Lokgeet, Mira Bai, Ganesh Vandana Jepu Khan Langa & party – Sarangi, Morchang, algoza, Harmonium, dholak & vocals (City – Jodhpur) Parmeshwar Javda Kathak party Vocals (Padhhant), Tabla, Kathak dance Village – Sridungargarh, Bikaner Gulabnath Bhopa & Party – Ballad (epic recitation), Rawanhatta & vocals Village – Gachhar, Churu Munshi Dhaadhi & Party – Maand & Bhajans Village – Sinod, Nagaur] Saddam, Mohsin, Abid Langa children & Party – Vocals, Khartal, Dholak, Sarangi, Harmonium Village – Badnawa, Barmer Nek Mohammad Langa and Mubarak Langa & Party – Vocals, Harmonium, Dholak, Khartal, Sarangi Village – Badnawa, Barmer Idu Langa – Algoza Village – Badnawa, Barmer

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