Picture this: A percussionist has arrived at a concert venue, but has been asked to leave because another percussionist has announced, “I don’t play concerts with or for women.” The organizers and the “lead artist” (as the artist sitting in the center of the stage is called) hastily apologized and sent him home. Angered, she screams so loudly that her neighbors gather and find out what happened. She vows to bring her work and the instrument – ​​Ghatam – to the center stage. And, that’s where musician Sukanya Ramgopal, who has paved the way for other women in percussion, sat while performing at the 2024 edition of Jodhpur RIFF.

The genre-agnostic festival offers a truly diverse variety of music, but remarkably, also spotlights women who have overcome many obstacles to reach the stage.

Sukanya Ramgopal has taken center stage with not one, but a series of pottery acts over the last five decades of her musical career. His Ghatam ensemble has broken down notions and hierarchies – blending melody with tala and poetry with classical music. “From the very beginning, there were many obstacles to overcome. So, I came away feeling a lot. I don’t know what to call that feeling – anger, determination? I have struggled a lot. Even now, some people tell me, ‘You’re always fighting… try to be soft’,” she says, laughing.

While Sukanya has faced many rejections due to being a female percussionist, she sometimes chooses to reject opportunities that come her way because she is a female percussionist. “How long will we all continue to play the role of women? Have you ever heard anyone call an ‘all-male’ group?” She shares her imaginary vision of a hierarchy-free classical music world, where artists see each other as equal professionals.” So what if you play the ghatam and I sing or play some other instrument?” she asks.

Inspired by Kabir and Meera

Sumitra Das Goswami is the first female Rajasthani folk singer to perform outside India. , Photo Credits: Courtesy: RIFF Jodhpur/Ojio

Internationally acclaimed folk singer Sumitra Das Goswami, who also performed on the main stage of the festival, was only five years old when she started learning bhajans from her father. After losing her mother and watching her father struggle as a construction worker by day and bhajan singer by night, he told her that he could earn more if she would sing with him. He said it would be hard work, but he started teaching him, even building a harmonium by hand (and a wooden seat so he could reach the keys). The brightness of his voice shined. She gained recognition even before she turned 14, but her association with mystic poets like Meera, Kabir and Guru Gorakhnath fascinated her deeply.

“As a child, sometimes, I would fall asleep AwakeningSometimes, I would stay awake and sing with my father,” recalls Sumitra. “In all innocence, I believed that my singing would keep my family safe from hunger. We lived on leftover food, shivering in the rain, harsh heat and cold – sometimes even yearning for water. When I sang, so many chiller (Changes) will gather around me in heaps,” says the artiste who is credited with being the first female Rajasthani folk singer to perform outside India.

dream come true

The invitation to exhibit in Jaipur changed Sumitra’s life, with art curators such as John Singh and Vinod Joshi encouraging her to expand her artistic practice. The appreciation and acceptance he received nationally and internationally was in stark contrast to the rejection and oppression he and his family faced from their community. Her father encouraged her to sing and ignore his critics. Yet, she still remembers him standing in front of her community with folded hands, head bowed, and saying: “Take whatever you want from me. Just let my daughter sing. She has big dreams and works very hard.”

The community imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Sumitra’s decision to continue her music career. Apart from draining his meager savings, he paid for it by selling 20 of his goats. When the community further demanded that she refrain from singing around them or in any of their houses, she retorted, “Now that we have paid the fine, I will sing wherever I want.” However his music came at a heavy cost to him (after his father’s death all but one of his siblings shunned him, and he had to find a partner outside his own community as he was ostracized in his own community). , Sumitra says that she only feels happy when she sings.

“When I sing, I become one with the Supreme Being about whom Meera and Kabir sang. Meera had to face such allegations because of her mad love for Krishna. What am I in front of him?” she asks.

Sumitra now teaches music to her widowed sister-in-law and young niece, while also encouraging them to “make your mark in the world so that you can be known as you are.”

experimental music

Maruti-based singer Emmeline says she believes in creating music that “expresses resistance but offers hope”. , Photo Credits: Courtesy: RIFF Jodhpur/Ojio

Another voice that stood out at the festival was that of Emmeline from Mauritius. His vibrant music brought the vastness of the Indian Ocean to Rajasthan. “The basis of my music is the traditional drumming and sega chanting of my island,” says Emlyn. Her musical experiments are also influenced by the rock, blues and fusion music she listened to growing up. Addressing the divisions created by colonization and making tools from ocean-washed trash or plastic that she holds so dear – it’s all in a day’s work for her.

“At the core of my work as an activist is my love for my country and nature,” says Emeline. She believes in creating music that “expresses resistance but offers hope”. Having previously harbored “a lot of insecurities about being a woman in the music industry”, she now wants to focus on how women can do anything. “We have the power to give birth, and we can be very strong with our minds,” she says.