Saptak Music Festival - सप्तक संगीत महोत्सव

The Saptak music festival is held every year in the first week of January. It is conducted for a period of 11 days in Ahmedabad located in the state of Gujarat in India. A public charitable trust, which runs the Saptak School of Music, organizes this festival. The Saptak Festival of Music was started in the year 1980 by the famous Sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar. Read on to know more about Saptak Music Festival held in Ahmedabad.

The festival is held for a period of 11 days and many music lovers and musicians come here to participate every year. The festival gives opportunity to budding singers, instrumentalists, musicians, etc. to portray their talents on stage. The highlights of the Saptak Music Festival are the various instrumental groups and dance groups, Tala Vadya Kacheri (percussion of 3-4 musical instruments like Tabla, Ghatam, etc.).

Saptak Music Festival is also a platform for Rajasthani and Punjabi folk music. It has also started a campaign to promote the popular forms of vocal classical music like Thumri, Dhrupad, etc. and traditional musical instruments like Sarangi, Pakhawaj, etc. The Saptak Festival of Music invites talented musicians of older generations to come and give performance to keep alive the traditional forms of music. The festival also provides a platform for young talented musicians to perform on a broader stage.

All leading vocalists as well as instrumentalists participate on this platform regularly. Some of the innovative features of this festival have been instrumental and dance ensembles, Tala Vadya Kacheri, Rajasthani and Punjabi folk music. Saptak also tries to keep alive the fading traditions of vocal music like Thumri and Dhrupad, and instruments like Sarangi and Pakhawaj by inviting the older generation of artists specializing in these fields. The students of Saptak also perform in the presence of renowned musicians, musicologists and a large appreciative audience.

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