4 Interesting Facts One Should Know About Saptak Music Festival

Saptak Festival of Music: Fest of the Legends India has always been at the forefront whenever the world has talked about culture, heritage, and talent. Names like Zakir Hussain, Shivkumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Jasraj and many more have not only established themselves as legends in their fields through their talent but has also helped put India on the global face. In this age of digitalization, when more and more people are attracted and are inclined towards electronic music, there are people who still enjoy the melody of classical music. When we talk about classical music it is not only vocals that we are talking about, but also the various instruments and instrumentalists who have made an equal mark for themselves. Indian Classical Music India, today, is a host to multiple music festivals, be it digital, electronic or classical. Festivals like NH7 Weekender, sunburn, Ziro, Sawai Gandharva, Ruhaniyat etc. not only bring out the best in the industry but also showcase the diverse talent India is a host to and caters to the audience of every taste. One such festival which hosts and showcases the best of the best in Indian classical music is Saptak Annual Festival of Music. For people who keep interest in Indian classical music, Saptak Music festival is not a new name. Here are a few interesting things you should know about the Saptak Festival of Music: Rich Heritage of 39 years: The festival is organized each year by the Saptak School of Music. It was started way back in the year 1980 by Pandit Nandan Mehta (a renowned table player of the Banaras Gharana), Vidushi Manju Mehta (world famous sitarist), Rupnad Shah, Bharti Parikh, and D D Trivedi. It was inaugurated by sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar and table legend Pandit Kishan Maharaj. The festival is held through an exhaustive period of 13 days usually commencing on the 1^st of January every year and ending on the 13^th of January. Zakir Husaain performing   Legendary Performances: Saptak music festival hosts the legends of Indian classical music. Be it, vocalists or instrumentalists, you name it and you have it. The show has always maintained an impressive lineup of Indian artists right from its inception. People from all over the country and abroad throng towards Ahmedabad during this time of the year to witness the extraordinary magical performances delivered by the maestros of Indian classical music.   A place to discover new talent: If you are one of those who likes discovering new talent, then this is the place for you. You can quench your thirst of discovering and meeting talented people from around the country. Apart from performances from the masters, each year the festival exclusively launches new talent in the field of vocals, instruments, and dance. This is the place where you can discover the upcoming and promising talent of India. Maestros performing in the event Great platform for networking: Finding people who have a liking of classical music is kind of rare these days. Nowadays people mostly like fast-paced, digital and electronic music. Owing to the huge audience the festival attracts each year, it is for sure a great place to network with like-minded people. You can not only meet people who think alike but people who have the same hobbies, same tastes, and the same preferences. You also get to meet photographers, cameramen, journalists who you can always network with either for professional or personal interest.   This is not all, you can also get to experience Saptak Archives. The archives were set up in the year 2004 with the aim to preserve the masterpieces that are created during the festival. The performances of all the festivals held till date have been carefully preserved in the form of media in various mediums like spools, cassettes, LP records, CD’s etc). The best part about the archives is it has several workstations, listening pods, a concert hall, and a multi-media music library to give you the experience of what it is like to hear and see the maestros perform. It has a complete of 6000 hours of digitized music of over 950 artists. Support Saptak which is a way to preserve Indian music and culture. So, there you go folks, let’s head to Ahmedabad…!! To know more on Indian Culture and Music, follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.