I traveled the road to Rajasthan to find Gassi Khan, a friend and master of "crotala", blades of wood, the ancestors of castanets. After Jaipur, the capital, and its brass bands, I went south into the Jaisalmer Desert to live and play music with the itinerant

musicians of Khan's community, the Mangahiars, capturing memorable moments of their music during both evening parties and music lessons. Jazz was no surprise to them, because it belongs to the same family of music as their own, nomadic and open.