The fact that a 13-day Sangeet Samaroh (Music Festival) is organised every year in Ahmedabad and people attend it in hundreds, bears testimony to the interest and enthusiasm of the Gujarati people for classical music. The Saptak Annual Music Festival is now in its 29th year.

It had started with the blessings of Pandit Ravi Shanker and the late Pandit Kishen Maharaj in 1980. The festival is now so popular that it can be described as the 'Woodstock of Indian Classical Music'.

Every year, lovers of classical music from all over the country and abroad, visit Ahmedabad only to lose themselves in a musical trance. The vigour and spirit of the people never diminishes during the fortnight. The performance of every artiste is discussed to the minutest detail.

The ambience becomes reminiscent of the days of yore when musical events started late in the evening and ended late in the morning. All this has gone into making the Saptak Festival a unique experience not only for the listeners but also for the performing artists. An artiste, whether budding or established, yearns for a chance to perform in the festival, as it becomes a landmark in his/her career.

The organisers have fittingly dedicated this year's festival in the memory of three of the greatest Tabla artists of the age: Pandit Samta Prasad, Ustad Allarakha and Pandit Kishen Maharaj—who passed away during the last decade.

The list of performers, as in the past, has a mixture of famous names such as Pandit Jasraj, Girija Devi, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Ustad Shaheed Parvez, Ustad Shujat Khan, Kaushiki Desikan, Pandit Rajan Mishra and Pandit Sajan Mishra.

The Gundecha Brothers, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty and the students of the Saptak School of Music — Hetal Mehta and Amita Dalal— will also take part in the fest. As in the previous years, the organisers have also included folk music and classical dance forms (this year it is Kathak) in the festival.