Carnatic vocalist S Sowmya has been chosen for the prestigious Sangita Kalanidhi award instituted by The Music Academy.
The academy announced the awards to honour artistes for their contribution to the world of art, president of The Music Academy N Murali said in a release.
The announcement came after a meeting of the executive committee of The Music Academy which unanimously decided the winners.
Sowmya, an outstanding Carnatic vocalist and a disciple of Sangita Kalanidhi Dr S Ramanathan and Sangita Kala Acharya T Muktha, has been described by the academy as one of the foremost exponents of the Carnatic school.
Sowmya, who is known for her intellectual approach to music, is part of the faculty of the prestigious Madras Music Academy’s Advanced School of Carnatic Music and is also part of the Academic Council of the Tamil Nadu Music and Fine Arts University.
Seetha Narayanan, a senior performer, and M S Sheela, a “torchbearer for Carnatic music in Karnataka” have been chosen for the Sangita Kala Acharya award.
Nagaswaram artiste Vyasarpadi Kothandaraman and performer-turned-composer Rajkumar Bharathi, the great grandson of the national poet Subramania Bharathi, will be honoured with TTK award in memory of T T Krishnamachari.
Arati N Rao from Bengaluru has been chosen for the Musicologist award while the Nritya Kalanidhi award will go to Bharatanatyam dancer Priyadarsini Govind.
Sangita Kalanidhi and the other awards will be conferred at the Sadas of the Music Festival to be held on January 1, 2020.
The Nritya Kalanidhi award will be presented at the inauguration of the Dance Festival on January 3.