A fort that learned to sing
The Thar has always been full of music. For centuries hereditary musician families sang at the births, weddings and deaths of their patrons, and kept the genealogies of whole clans in their songs. RIFF was created to give that music the grandest stage in Rajasthan, and to set it beside roots musicians from around the world.
The fort: Mehrangarh rises on its ridge above the blue city of Jodhpur, its palaces carved as finely as lace. For the festival its courtyards, terraces and ramparts become stages.
- Full name
- Rajasthan International Folk Festival
- Known as
- Jodhpur RIFF
- Venue
- Mehrangarh, founded by Rao Jodha in 1459
- Organiser
- Mehrangarh Museum Trust
- Editions
- The twentieth falls in 2026
- The organiser: the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, set up by the present head of the former royal family, Maharaja Gaj Singh II, which also runs the fort as one of the finest museums in India.
- The musicians: the folk communities of Rajasthan, among them Manganiyar, Langa, Kalbelia and Bhil performers, play alongside roots musicians invited from across the world.
- The 2026 edition: the twentieth, announced for 22 to 26 October, with over two hundred and fifty folk musicians and acts from about a dozen countries expected.
- The spirit: it is not a show put on for tourists. Many of the musicians are stars in their own villages, and you will see their families in the audience.
- Our view: it is our favourite festival in Rajasthan, and the one we recommend most often to guests who love music.
When RIFF falls
The moon: the festival is timed around Sharad Purnima, the full moon of the Hindu month of Ashwin, so its dates move from year to year.
The month: it is almost always in October, at the very start of Rajasthan's travel season.
- Timed to
- Sharad Purnima, the full moon of Ashwin
- Usual month
- October
- Length
- Several days and nights
- 2026
- Announced for 22 to 26 October
- Weather
- Warm days, cool nights, clear air
- The announcement: the Trust publishes each year's dates and programme in advance. We confirm them every year and book as soon as they are out.
- The weather: days can still be warm in the low thirties, evenings are lovely and the pre-dawn hours on the ramparts are cool enough for a shawl.
- The light: the air is usually clear after the monsoon, and the full moon over the blue city is extraordinary.
- Read more: our guides to the best time to visit Jodhpur and Rajasthan in October explain the season.
A festival day, from dawn to after midnight
Before dawn, the ramparts
The dawn concerts: the most beautiful sessions of the festival, quiet, acoustic and often solo, with the blue city waking below you.
- When: they begin very early, in the dark. In 2026 the dawn sessions were announced to start at about half past five.
- Where: on the ramparts and in the gardens around the fort. Past editions have also used the Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park and Jaswant Thada below the walls.
- Bring: a shawl, a cushion if you like, and patience. The sun comes up halfway through, and the musicians time it.
Morning and afternoon, rest
Breakfast and sleep: most of our guests go back to their hotel after the dawn session for breakfast and a long sleep.
- A gentle outing: in the afternoon, a short visit to the old city lanes, the stepwell or the Umaid Bhawan museum, never a full day of sightseeing.
- Workshops and talks: in some years there are daytime sessions where musicians explain their instruments. We check each programme.
Evening, the main stages
The big concerts: in the courtyards of the fort, with Rajasthani folk ensembles and international roots acts, sometimes playing together.
- The collaborations: a Manganiyar singer trading verses with a flamenco guitarist or a Scottish piper is part of the fun.
- Late night: sessions can run well past midnight, with dancing in the courtyards.
The opening night
- In 2026: the opening evening on 22 October was announced as open with free entry, the festival's gift to the city.
- Each year: the format changes, so we check whether the opening is ticketed or open, and where it is held.
The musicians you will hear
The Manganiyars: hereditary Muslim musicians of the Thar who sang for Rajput patron families for centuries, honouring Hindu gods and Sufi saints alike. Their own instrument is the kamaicha, a bowed lute with a mango-wood belly.
The Langas: a related community who traditionally sang for Muslim Sindhi Sipahi patrons, and play the sindhi sarangi and the algoza, twin flutes played at once.
- The Kalbelias: a community of former snake charmers whose dance, all spinning black skirts and serpent movement, is on UNESCO's list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
- The Bhils: one of India's largest tribal communities, with their own drums, songs and dances from the hills of southern Rajasthan.
- The Bhopas: singer-priests who sing the epic of the hero Pabuji at night before a painted scroll, the phad. Our journal on the Bhopa and the phad explains it.
- Maand: the slow, ornamented song of Rajasthan's courts, between classical and folk, and the style of the state's best-loved welcome song.
- The instruments: listen for the khartal, wooden clappers played at astonishing speed, the morchang jaw harp and the deep dhol drum.
- Learn more: our pages on the Manganiyar singers, folk music and dance and the Kalbelia dance go deeper.
The story of the stage
The founding: Rao Jodha laid the foundations of Mehrangarh on 12 May 1459, on a ridge the locals called Bhaurcheeria, the mountain of birds. Jodhpur still marks the date as its foundation day.
The saint's blessing: tradition says Karni Mata, the warrior-saint of Deshnoke near Bikaner, laid the first stone.
- The goddess: at the southern end of the fort stands the temple of Chamunda Mata, whom Rao Jodha brought from Mandore in 1460. She is still the family's own deity.
- The builders: most of the palace was added by later rulers over three centuries, among them Jaswant Singh I, Ajit Singh, Abhay Singh and Man Singh.
- The patrons: Rathore kings kept musicians at court for generations, and the hereditary singers of Marwar sang their genealogies. RIFF brings that patronage back, in a new form.
- Read more: our journal on the Jodhpur royal family tells the family's story to the present day.
The stages inside and around the fort
The courtyards of Mehrangarh
- What they are: the palace courtyards of the Rathore kings, ringed by carved sandstone screens and jharokha windows.
- At the festival: they host the main evening concerts. The acoustics are remarkable, and the carved walls glow under the lights.
The ramparts
- The view: the whole blue city below, the desert beyond, and Umaid Bhawan on its hill to the south.
- At the festival: the setting for the dawn sessions and some of the quietest, most intimate music of the week.
Below the walls
- Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park: a restored native landscape of rock and desert plants below the fort, used for dawn music in past editions.
- Jaswant Thada: the white marble memorial to Maharaja Jaswant Singh II, beautiful in the first light.
Seeing the fort itself
- Separately: during the festival the courtyards are set up as stages, so we see the palaces and museum on a separate morning, ideally before RIFF begins or after it ends.
- At opening time: before the tour groups, with a private guide, from the Phool Mahal to the armoury.
Passes and how the festival works
Types of pass: in recent years there have been full festival passes, day passes and dawn passes. The mix changes, so we check each year.
Which to choose: if you love music, take the full festival pass. If you want only the magic, a dawn pass for one or two mornings is unforgettable.
- Passes
- Full festival, day and dawn passes
- Sold by
- The festival, in advance
- Sell out
- The best options go early
- Prices
- We confirm them with your booking
- Buy early: the best passes and the closest hotels go first, and discounts for early booking have been offered in some years.
- One booking: we book your passes, rooms, car and guide together, so the dawn pick-up and the late return are taken care of.
- Access: the fort is on a steep hill and many venues involve ramps and steps. Tell us about any mobility needs, and we plan routes and drop-offs with care.
Before you go
Sleep in the afternoon: the dawn sessions and the late concerts are both worth it, but only if you rest in between. Treat lunch and a sleep as part of the programme.
Layer up for dawn: the ramparts are cool before sunrise in October, and a shawl or light down jacket makes the first hour a pleasure.
- Dawn sessions
- Start in the dark, so set two alarms
- Bring
- Shawl, cushion, torch, water
- Shoes
- Closed, with grip, easy to slip off
- Greeting
- Khamma ghani
- Carry a small torch: the paths to the dawn venues are dark, uneven and steep in places. Your phone light is not enough.
- Bring a cushion: seating at some sessions is on rugs or stone. A thin cushion or folded shawl helps.
- Keep water with you: the afternoons are warm and the night sessions long. Refill bottles where the festival provides water.
- Read the programme the night before: sessions move and new collaborations appear. Our guide checks each day and suggests what not to miss.
- Leave the big camera at home for dawn: a small, quiet camera, or none at all, is kinder to the musicians and to you.
Getting to Jodhpur and up to the fort
By air: Jodhpur airport has direct flights from Delhi, Mumbai and other cities. We meet you on arrival.
By road: from Udaipur we break the drive at the marble temple of Ranakpur. From Jaipur we stop for lunch on the way.
- Nearest airport
- Jodhpur, a short drive from the city
- From Jaipur
- About five to six hours by road
- From Udaipur
- About five hours, via Ranakpur
- From Jaisalmer
- About five hours by road
- Up the hill: cars drop you at the fort's lower gates, and the walk up the ramps is steep. There has been a lift inside the fort in recent years, and we check it is running.
- At night: your chauffeur waits close to the gates, and our guide walks you down with a torch after the late concerts.
- From the old city: if you stay below the fort, the walk up through the blue lanes is one of the joys of the festival.
Etiquette and respect
Silence at dawn: the dawn sessions are quiet and acoustic. Phones off, voices low, and no photography with flash.
Photographs: follow the festival's rules on cameras at each session, and ask before photographing musicians up close off stage.
- Respect the shrine: take your shoes off and cover your head if you visit the Chamunda Mata temple in the fort.
- Dress: modest and comfortable, with layers for dawn and comfortable shoes for the fort's stone ramps.
- Support the musicians: buy their recordings where they are sold, and tip directly if you hear them at a private performance.
- Greet in Marwari: khamma ghani is the Rajasthani hello, and musicians love to hear it.
How we plan your RIFF
Book early: with RIFF, the Marwar Festival, Navratri and the start of the season all in October, Jodhpur's hotels fill months ahead.
Nights: three or four in Jodhpur lets you go to most of the festival and still rest. Fewer and you will be too tired to enjoy it.
- Allow
- Three or four nights
- Book
- Many months ahead
- Fly into
- Jodhpur airport
- Pace
- Dawn, rest, evening
- Mornings: we pick you up in the dark for the dawn session, then bring you back for breakfast and sleep.
- Evenings: your chauffeur waits at the nearest point to the fort gates, and our guide walks you up and down the ramps.
- A spare day: keep one day free of music, for the old city, a country fort or the Bishnoi villages.
- Pack: a warm shawl for dawn, light cotton for the afternoons, a cushion, a torch and comfortable shoes with grip.
Where to stay
RAAS Jodhpur: in the old city directly beneath the fort, the closest luxury stay to the stages.
- Umaid Bhawan Palace: a palace on a hill across the city, where the former royal family still lives alongside a Taj hotel.
- Ajit Bhawan and Bal Samand Lake Palace: gentler heritage choices. Our guide to luxury hotels in Jodhpur compares them all.
RIFF and the Marwar Festival
The Marwar Festival: Rajasthan Tourism's celebration of the folk heroes of Marwar, held over about two days around the same full moon, with music and dance in the city, at Mandore and at Umaid Bhawan.
- How they differ: RIFF is a ticketed, curated festival inside the fort. The Marwar Festival is free, local and informal.
- Seeing both: the two can fall within days of each other or overlap. We look at both programmes each year and plan your days to fit.
Eating well between concerts
After the dawn session: hot pyaaz kachori and mirchi bada from the old city's stalls, and a glass of makhaniya lassi.
At the fort: food stalls and cafes run during the festival. We bring water and a flask of tea for the dawn.
- Lunch: a Marwari thali of dal baati churma, ker sangri and gatte ki sabzi, then sleep.
- Sweets: Jodhpur's mawa kachori, filled with sweetened milk solids and nuts and soaked in syrup.
- A late supper: a terrace facing the lit fort. Our food of Jodhpur guide lists where we eat.
What most visitors miss
The walk down at dawn: after the first session, walk down through the rock park as the city wakes, with the musicians often walking alongside you.
The blue lanes of Brahmpuri: below the fort, at their best in the early morning with a guide who grew up there.
- Toorji ka Jhalra: the restored stepwell in the old city, quiet in the late afternoon.
- The musicians' own stories: ask your guide to introduce you to a performer between sessions. Many are happy to talk about their families and villages.
- The full moon itself: step away from the stage for five minutes on the night of Sharad Purnima and look out over the city.
Journeys and places to combine with RIFF
The desert triangle
- The route: Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner, with camps in the dunes between them, on our desert triangle journey.
Country forts and villages
- Rest after the music: two nights at Rohet Garh or Khimsar Fort, with village walks and quiet evenings.
- Osian: the temples of Osian, about an hour north, are among the oldest in Rajasthan.
Udaipur and Mewar
- Two kingdoms: continue south by way of Ranakpur's marble temple to Udaipur on our Mewar and Marwar journey.
- Lakes after the desert: in October Udaipur's lakes are usually full from the monsoon.
RIFF for photographers, couples and returning friends
For photographers: the courtyards at dusk and the ramparts at sunrise give the best light. Follow each session's camera rules, shoot without flash and keep a fast lens. Our photography tips explain how we work with festival light.
For couples: take the dawn passes, sleep late, and ask us for a private dinner on a terrace facing the lit fort on the night of the full moon.
- For music lovers: arrive a day early and spend it with a Manganiyar family in a village near Jodhpur, so you know the songs before you hear them on the stage.
- For returning friends: pair RIFF with a few nights at a country fort and a morning among the Bishnoi villages, or continue to the dunes for a night of music around a fire.
- For families: choose one evening concert and one dawn session, keep the afternoons for the pool, and let children pick a turban in the clock tower market.
Who will love RIFF, and who won't
You will love it if: you love live music of any kind, you are curious about the cultures behind it, and a 5 am alarm sounds like a fair price for a sunrise concert.
Couples and friends: the dawn sessions and moonlit courtyards are among the most romantic settings in Rajasthan.
- Families: older children who enjoy music do well. Younger ones may find the hours hard, so choose one or two sessions.
- Less ideal if: you dislike crowds at night, steep stone ramps or broken sleep, or if you want to see Mehrangarh's museum in peace that week.
- The alternative: see the fort in calm in November or February, and arrange a private evening of folk music instead through our folk music page.