Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, Santoor exponent Shivkumar Sharma, noted dancer Padma Subramanyam, playwright Chandrashekar Kambara, Hindustani classical singer Venkatesh Kumar and puppeteer Belagallu Veeranna (the last three from Karnataka) were among recipients of Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship and awards given to 47 eminent persons by President Pranab Mukherjee here on Tuesday.
A total of 11 eminent persons in the field of music, dance and theatre were nominated for the Akademi fellowship for 2011, which included along with Khan and Sharma, flute legend Hariprasad Chaurasia, who could not make it to the function due to his prior engagements.
Besides this, 36 eminent personalities and artists, including well-known film and television actor Vikram Gokhle, were conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi awards.
Those conferred with the highest honour of Akademi fellowship received Rs 3 lakh, an angavastram and a tamrapatra. The eminent representatives of music, dance and theatre, who received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards received Rs 1 lakh, an “angavastram” and a “tamrapatra”.
Some of the noted Akademi awardees are Shruti Sadolkar Katkar, who had composed music in Amol Palekar’s movie “Paheli”, J Venkatraman (Carnatic Vocal music), Elappulli Mahadevaiyer Submramaniam, Ayyagari Syamasundram and Sheshampatti T Sivalingam (all three Carnatic Instrumental Music).
In the dance category, the awardees include Narthaki Nataraj (Bharatnatayam), Manjusree Chatterjee (Kathak), Thonnakkal Peethambaran (Kathakali), Priti Patel (Manipuri), Alekhya Punjala (Kuchipudi), Malaysia born Ramali Ibrahim (Odissi), V K Hymavathy (Mohiniattam), Tanusree Shankar (Creative and experimental dance) and Karaikudi R Krishnamurthy (music for dance- Mridangam).
Sundrai Krishnalal Shridharani, the founder of Triveni Kala Sangam in the national capital, was bestowed the award posthumously for her overall contribution to performing arts. The three awardees from Karnataka were honoured in the evening by the Delhi Karnataka Sangha.