President of India to confer Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the Year 2017

Newdelhi:5/2/19:The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind will be conferring the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards 2017 at Rashtrapati Bhawan in a special investiture ceremony, tomorrow.

The General Council of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India at its meeting held on 8 June 2018 in Imphal (Manipur) had selected forty-two (42) artists from the field of Music, Dance, Theatre, Traditional/Folk/Tribal Music/Dance/Theatre, Puppetry and Overall contribution/scholarship in the Performing Arts for the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the year 2017. These forty-two (42) artists include one joint award.

In the field of Music, eleven eminent artists, namely Lalith J Rao – Hindustani Vocal, Umakant Gundecha and Ramakant Gundecha (Gundecha Brothers) (Joint Award) – Hindustani Vocal, Yogesh Samsi – Hindustani Instrumental- Tabla, Rajendra Prasanna – Hindustani Instrumental – Shehnnai/Flute, M.S.Sheela – Carnatic Vocal, Suma Sudhindra – Carnatic Instrumental – Veena, Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan – Carnatic Insrumental – Mridangam, Shashank Subramanyam – Carnatic Instrumental – Flute, Madhurani- Other Major Traditions of Music -Sugam Sangeet, Haimanti Sukla -Other Major Traditions of Music -Sugam Sangeet, Gurnam Singh – Other Major Traditions of Music – Gurbani, have been selected for the Akademi Awards 2017.

In the Field of Dance, nine eminent artists have been selected for the Akademi Awards 2017, namely, Rama Vaidyanathan for Bharatanatyam, Shobha Koser for Kathak, Madambi Subramanian for Kathakali, L.N.Oinam Ongbi Dhoni Devi for Manipuri, Deepika Reddy for Kuchipudi, Sujata Mohapatra for Odissi, Ramkrishna Talukdar for Sattriya, Janmajay Saibabu for Chhau, Aashit Desai for Music for Dance.

In the field of Theatre, nine eminent artists have been selected for the Akademi Awards 2017, Abhiram Bhadakamkar for Playwriting, Sunil Shanbagh for Direction, Bapi Bose for Direction, Hema Singh for Acting, Deepak Tiwari for Acting, Anil Tickoo for Acting, Nuruddin Ahmed for Allied Theatre Arts – (Stage Craft), Avtar Sahani for Allied Theatre Arts – (Lighting), Shougrakpam Hemanta Singh for Other Major Traditions of Theatre – Shumang Leela, Manipur.

In the field of Traditional/Folk/Tribal Music/Dance/Theatre and Puppetry, ten artists have been selected for the Akademi Awards 2017, they are Anwar Khan Manganiyar , Folk Music, Rajasthan, Prakash Khandge, Folk Arts, Maharashtra Jagannath Bayan, Traditional Music – Khol, Assam, Ramchandra Majhi, Folk Music, Bihar, Rakesh Tiwari, Folk Theatre, Chhattisgarh, Parvathy Baul, Folk Music (Baul), West Bengal, Saravjit Kaur, Folk Music, Punjab, K.C. Runremsangi, Folk Music, Mizoram, Mukund Nayak, Folk Music, Jharkhand, Sudip Gupta, Puppetry, West Bengal.

Vijay Verma and Sandhya Purecha have been selected for the Akademi Award 2017 in the field of Overall Contribution/Scholarship in the Performing Arts.

The honour of Akademi Award has been conferred since 1952. These honours not only symbolize the highest standard of excellence and achievements, but also recognize sustained individual work and contribution. The honour of Akademi Award carries with it Rs 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh), besides a Tamrapatra and Angavastram.