Eminent artists Zakhir Hussain, Sonal Mansingh, Jatin Goswami and K Kalyanasundaram Pillai have been chosen in the Akademi Ratna category by the Sangeet Natak Akademi for the year 2018.
The General Council selected 44 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 for the year 2018 at a meeting here on June 26, an official release said.
These 44 artists include three joint awards.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards will be conferred by the President of India at a special investiture ceremony., the release said.
Diwan Singh Bajeli and Puru Dadhich have been selected for the Akademi Award 2018 in the field of Overall Contribution/Scholarship in the Performing Arts.
Eleven eminent artists have been selected from the field of Music including M Prasad for Hindust Vocal, Madhup Mudgal - Hindust Vocal, Tarun Bhattacharya - Hindust Instrumental - Santoor, Tejendra Narayan Majumdar - Hindust Instrumental - Sarod. Other sub-categories include Carnatic Instrument, Other Major Traditions of Music-Sugam Sangeet and many more.
In the field of Traditional/Folk/Tribal Music/Dance/Theatre and Puppetry, ten artists across different states have been selected for the Akademi Awards 2018. Few of the renowned artists selected are, Malini Awasthi, Folk Music, Uttar Pradesh, Gazi Khan Barna, Folk Music - Khartal, Rajasthan, Narendar Singh Negi, Folk Song, Uttrakhand, Mohd. Sadiq Bhagat, Folk Theatre (Bhand Pather), J&K, Kota Sachidanand Shastry, Harikatha, Andhra Pradesh.
Nine esteemed artists have been selected in the field of Dance including, Radha Sridhar for Bharatanatyam, Ishira & Maulik Shah (Joint Award) for Kathak, Akham Lakshmi Devi for Mpuri, Pasumurthy Ramalinga Sastry for Kuchipudi.
In the field of Theatre, nine eminent artists have been selected for the Akademi Awards 2018 including, Rajiv Naik for Playwriting, Laltluangliana Khiangte for Playwriting, Sanjay Upadhyay for Direction, S.Raghunandana for Direction, Suhas Joshi for Acting, Teekam Joshi for Acting.
The honour of Akademi Award has been conferred since 1952.
These honours not only symbolise the highest standard of excellence and achievements but also recognize sustained individual work and contribution. The honour of Akademi Fellow carries purse money of Rs.3,00,000/- (Rupees three lakh) and Akademi Award carries Rs 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh), besides a Tamrapatra and Angavastram, the release said.
( With inputs from ANI )