CHENNAI: Legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam, who recently passed away, has been conferred with the second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, posthumously according to an announcement by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday night. He is the eighteenth recipient of the honour. SPB, as he was known, was previously awarded the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri in 2011 and 2001, respectively. Reacting to the news, his son SP Charan tweeted, “Sweet sorrow for us,” adding the hashtag ‘SPBliveson’.
Six-time National Award winner singer KS Chithra was bestowed with the Padma Bhushan honour, 16 years after she was awarded the Padma Shri. Among the other Padma awardees are Carnatic musician, lyricist and writer Kaithapram Damodaran Namboodiri and Carnatic musician-singer Bombay Jayashri who were awarded the Padma Shri.
Noted Tamil scholar and actor Solomon Pappaiah was conferred with the Padma Shri (Literature-Education and Journalism), an honour that was also given to the celebrated Villupaatu exponent Subbu Arumugam.
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The Padma Shri awardees from the field of arts included Gulfam Ahmed, Rama Swamy Annavarapu, Bhuri Bai, Radhe Shyam Barle, Biren Kumar Basak, Peter Brook, Gopiram Bargayn Burabhakat, Narayan Debnath, Dulari Devi, Radhe Devi, Wayan Dibia, Parshuram Atmaram Gangavane, Purnamasi Jani, B Manjamma Jogati, Maheshbhai & Nareshbhai Kanodia (Posthumous), K Kesavasamy, Ghulam Rasool Khan, Lakha Khan, Sanjida Khatun, Vinayak Vishnu Khedekar, Lajwanti, Ramachandra Manjhi, Dulal Manki, Rewben Mashangva, K K Ramachandra Pulavar, Kanaka Raju, Satyaram Reang, Kartar Paras Ram Singh, Kartar Singh, K C Sivasankar (Posthumous) and Nidumolu Sumathi.
The annual Padma awards were announced on the eve of Republic Day. The list comprises seven Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan, and 102 Padma Shri awardees.