After four years, President to present Sangeet Natak Akademi awards

NEW DELHI:  President Droupadi Murmu will present the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Sangeet Natak Awards for the year 2019, 2020 and 2021 to over 100 eminent artists at a joint investiture ceremony to be held on February 22. The President will be conferring Akademi awards after a gap of four years. Last year, then vice president M Venkaiah Naidu handed over the awards for the year 2018.

“The awards ceremony couldn’t take place initially for three years due to Covid pandemic and last year, the president was not available,” said officials. During the meeting of the General Council of the Akademi, the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, held in November unanimously elected 10 eminent personalities for performing arts as Akademi Fellows.

The noted artists selected for the fellowships are Saroja Vaidyanathan (Bharatanatyam), Sadanam Krishnankutty (Kathakali), Pandit Chhannulal Mishra (Hindustani classical), Teejan Bai (Pandavani), KC Natarajan (carnatic music), Darshana Jhaveri (Manipuri dance), Swapan Chaudhuri (Tabla), Malini Rajurkar (Hindustani classical), TV Gopalakrishnan (Carnatic and Hindustani music), and Bharat Gupt (Indian classicist). The Akademi Awards have been conferred since 1952.

The Akademi fellowship is a most prestigious recognition in the field of arts and culture. The Council also selected one hundred and twenty-eight (128) artists from the field of music, dance, puppetry, and theatre including folk and tribal, for the honour thus clearing the backlog for three years.

“The fellows and awardees so selected represent the nation as a whole, and belong to different States and union territories. Besides, these eminent artists cover the entire gamut of the performing arts such as vocal music, both Hindustani and Carnatic. The northeastern States have also been adequately represented with 14 artists from the region selected for the Award from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland,” said the officials.

The investiture ceremony of Akademi’s Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 will be held on Wednesday. Union culture minister G Kishan Reddy along with minister of states for culture—Arjun Ram Meghwal and Meenakshi Lekhi will present awards to 102 artists. The Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar is given to artists below the age of 40 years with the objective of scouting outstanding young artists. 

3 years’ Yuva Puraskar to be given away today
The investiture ceremony of Akademi’s Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 will be held on Wednesday. Union culture minister G Kishan Reddy along with minister of states for culture—Arjun Ram Meghwal and Meenakshi Lekhi will present awards to 102 artists. The award is given to outstanding young artists below the age of 40 years