There is one thing that blooms in the deserts of Rajasthan at the end of summer — festivals. This week is about the Rajasthan International Folk Festival in Jodhpur. The sprawling Mehrangarh fort, which lords over the skyline of the Blue City, is suddenly resounding with dholaks, guitar riffs and unmistakable murmurs about Mick Jagger. The Rolling Stones old man is the international patron of the festival and is still not here.

Innovative collaboration is what the fest is next known for. So along with Rajasthani folk artists dressed in angarakhas and colourful pagris were UK-based beat boxer Jason Singh and the guitarist Kirk McElhinney. Both Singh and McElhinney belong to a Manchester-based band called The Safires. Singh just let it rip with his wistful vocals that were soon layered with the alaaps of the folk singer Sumitra Goswami, McElhinney’s riffs then merged with the beats of dholak and the audience swayed to what Singh quite rightly called “supersonic sound”.

The festival opened on October 1 with a sedate act — a collaboration between Rekha Bhardwaj, folk singer Bhanwari Devi and maand singer Rehana Mirza. Folk was the order of the day as Bhanwari Devi had the audience asking for more. Bhardwaj, who sang two Sufi numbers, said, “I am essentially a Sufi singer and had to adapt to their folk style and they adapted to mine.”

Festival is on till October 5