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 Rajasthan 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 Bikaner 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 bhajans. 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 Malwa 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 1 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 Jaipur 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 2 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 Bikaner district 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. 3 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 (Dhundhar, Mewat, Hadoti and Marwar) 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 Mewar 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 4 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.