NEW DELHI, Jan 20 � The Sangeet Natak Akademi today announced awards for 38 artistes in the field of music, dance, theatre and puppetry, which included Assam�s Manik Borbayan (Satriya dance) and Manipur�s Phanjoabam Iboton Singh (Manipuri dance). The Akademi also selected Hindustani vocalist Girija Devi and Kuchipudi dancer Nataraj Ramakrishna as fellows for their contribution to performing arts.
82-year-old Devi, a Padma Bhushan winner who belongs to the Banaras gharana, and 78-year-old Ramakrishna, who also wrote a number of books on dance, have joined the club of 34 fellows of the Akademi with their selection.
Music writer Ashok D Ranade and theatre personality Jaidev Taneja were also named among the 38 artistes for their overall contribution.
The awardees in music section include Chhannu Lal Mishra and Yashpal (Hindustani Vocal-Music), Budhaditya Mukherjee (Sitar) and Nityanand Haldipur (Flute) for (Hindustani Instrumental Music) and Suguna Purushothaman and Mysore Nagamani Srinath (Carnatic Vocal Music).
Others are Nagai R Muralidharan (Violin) and Srimushnam V Raja Rao (Mridangam) for Carnatic Instrumental Music and M V Simhachala Sastry (Harikatha) for Other Major Traditions of Music.
The dancers who won the award included Malabika Mitra (Kathak), Kalamandalam Kombil Govindan Nair (Kathakali), Ratna Kumar (Kuchipudi), Aruna Mohanty (Odissi), Uttara Asha Coorlawala (Creative and Experimental Dance), Kalamandalam Painkulam Rama Chakyar (Other Major Traditions of Dance & Dance Theatre � Kutiyattam) and S Rajeshwari (Music for Dance - Bharatanatyam).
In the field of theatre, eight eminent persons have been selected for Akademi awards. They are D Vizai Bhaskar (Telugu) and Atamjeet Singh (Punjabi) for playwriting, Veenapani Chawla and Urmil Kumar Thapaliyal for direction and Dilip Prabhavalkar, Banwari Taneja, Maya Krishna Rao and Swatilekha Sengupta for acting.
Harbhajan Singh Namdhari for Gurbani Kirtan (Punjab), Nazeer Ahmed Khan Warsi and Naseer Ahmed Khan Warsi (Joint Award) for Qawwali (Andhra Pradesh), Dwijen Mukherjee for Rabindra Sangeet (West Bengal), T Somasundaram for Folk Dance (Tamil Nadu), Krishna Kumari for Folk Music- Bhakha (Jammu & Kashmir) have won the award in folk and tribal arts section.
Other winners in this section are Chanda Jagdish Tiwadi for Folk Theatre - Bharud (Maharashtra), K Chinna Anjannamma for Tolu Bommalata � Shadow Puppetry (Andhra Pradesh), and K V Ramakrishnan and K C Ramakrishnan (Joint Award) for Pava Kathakali � Glove Puppetry (Kerala). � PTI
