The fifth edition of the Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF) will be held at Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur from October 12 to 16, 2011. Organised jointly by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust and the Jaipur Virasat Foundation, the festival is supported by The Taj Group of Hotels. The annual international music festival, which follows the lunar calendar, commences on the ‘Sharat Purnima’ day every year. To promote participation in the event, RIFF will offer discounts for tour operators who book tickets in bulk for the festival.
According to Divya Bhatia, Festival Director, RIFF, Indian tour operators like Taj India Tours, Rajasthan Tours, Holiday India, etc. create and design their own tours during the festival. International musical travel groups such as Songlines, Sound Travel, Kadmus Arts, newspapers like The Guardian, etc. will be promoting the festival internationally. Apart from this, the BBC will be covering the entire festival this year to produce a one-hour documentary.
As far as participation is concerned, there was a 40 per cent increase in international participation in the festival in 2010 vis-à-vis 2009. “We are expecting a 15 to 20 per cent increase in the number of overseas participants this year. However, we are a little realistic about visitor numbers this year because of the financial slowdown in markets like North America and Europe,” he added. About 2,000 people attended the festival last year, out of which 30 per cent were overseas guests.
Going into its fifth edition, RIFF has grown in stature and won many accolades as a popular annual event to recognize traditional folk artists both from India and overseas. “There have been a lot of acknowledgements for the quality of the festival over the years. Today, the festival is recognized as one of the top 25 international music festivals in the world by world music magazine – Songlines,” informs Bhatia.