Sangeet Natak Akademi New Delhi

PRESS RELEASE 3 October 2012

PRESIDENT OF INDIA TO CONFER SANGEET AKADEMI FELLOWSHIPS AND AKADEMI AWARDS 2011 ON 9 OCTOBER 2012

The President of India, SHRI PRANAB MUKHERJEE will confer the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Akademi Awards for 2011 at a special ceremony on 9 October 2012 at 1200 hours at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi. This year eleven eminent personalities will be conferred with Akademi Fellowships and thirty six artists will receive the Akademi Awards.

The Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratna) and Akademi Award (Akademi Puraskar) are recognized as the highest national honours conferred on performing artists, gurus and scholars of the performing arts and have come to stay as the most coveted honour which the artistes aspire to. These honours are decided by Akademis General Council, the apex body consisting of eminent artistes, scholars and nominees of Government of India and of different States and Union Territories of the country.

The highest honour of Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratna) will be conferred on Shri Mukund Lath, Shri Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shri Shivkumar Sharma, Shri Amjad Ali Khan, Shri Umayalpuram Kasiviswanatha Sivaraman, Shri Mohan Chandrasekaran, Shri Rajkumar Singhajit Singh, Shri Kalamandalam Gopi, Smt Padma Subrahmanyam, Shri Chandrasekhar Basavanneppa Kambara and Shri Heisnam Kanhailal. They will receive purse money of Rupees three lakhs, besides an angavastram and a tamrapatra. The Fellowship of the Akademi is the most rare honour, which is restricted to a limited number at a given time. Presently there are only 40 living Fellows of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Contd..2

:2:

The eminent representatives of Music, Dance and Theatre to be honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 2011 will receive purse money of Rupees one lakh, angavastram and tamrapatra.

In the field of Music, nine eminent artists, namely Shruti Sadolikar Katkar

and

Marathe Venkateshkumar for Hindustani Vocal Music, Tota Ram Sharma (Pakhawaj) and Pushpraj Ramlal Koshti (Surbahar) for Hindustani Instrumental Music, J Venkatraman for Carnatic Vocal Music, Ellapulli Mahadevaiyer Subramaniam (Ghatam), Ayyagari

Syamasundaram (Veena) and Seshampatti T Sivalingam (Nagaswaram) for Carnatic Instrumental Music, and Gopal Chandra Panda (Odissi Music) for Other Major Traditions of Music, will receive the Akademi Award 2011.

In the field of Dance, nine eminent practitioners, namely

Narthaki Nataraj

(Bharatanatyam), Manjusree Chatterjee (Kathak), Thonnakkal Peethambaran (Kathakali), Priti Patel (Manipuri), Alekhya Punjala (Kuchipudi), Ramli Ibrahim (Odissi), V K Hymavathy (Mohiniattam), Tanusree Shankar (Creative & Experimental Dance) and Karaikudi R. Krishnamurthy (Music for Dance - Mridangam) will receive the Award for 2011.

In the field of Theatre, eight eminent persons who will be receiving the Akademi Awards are Kirti Jain for Direction, Amitabh Srivastava, Vikram Chandrakant Gokhle, Neena Tiwana and A R Srinivasan for Acting, R Nageswara Rao for Major Traditions of Theatre Company Theatre, Andhra Pradesh and Kamal Jain for Allied Theatre Arts (Lighting).

For their contribution to Other Traditional/Folk/ Tribal Music/ Dance/ Theatre and Puppetry, eight artists - Thrippekulam Achuta Marar for Traditional Music (Kerala), Hemant Rajabhai Chauhan for Folk Music (Gujarat), Gurmeet Bawa for Folk Music (Punjab), Kashi Ram Sahu for Folk Theatre (Chhattisgarh), Mipham Otsal for Traditional Theatre (Jammu & Kashmir), Belagallu Veeranna for Togalu Gombeyatta, Puppetry (Karnataka), Gopal Chandra Das for Putul Nach (Tripura) and Qasim Khan Niyazi for Making of Musical Instrument (Delhi) will be conferred with the Akademi Award for the year 2011.

Contd.3

:3:

Shrivatsa Goswami will receive the Akademi Award 2011 for Overall Contribution / Scholarship to Performing Arts.

Alakhnandan (TheatreDirection) and Sundari Krishnalal Shridharani (Overall Contribution) were also selected for Akademi Awards 2011. Due to their demise the said Award will be conferred on them posthumously.

The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Awards 2011 presentation ceremony will be followed by a Festival of Music, Dance and Drama featuring Fellows and Awardees of the year from 9-16 October 2012 at FICCI Auditorium, Tansen Marg, Meghdoot Theatre, Copernicus Marg, Shri Ram Centre, Safdar Hashmi Marg and Kamani Auditorium, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi. The festival will be inaugurated by Kumari Selja, Minister of Culture and Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation at FICCI Auditorium on 9 October 2012 at 6 pm (programme enclosed).

The Sangeet Natak Akademi, established by the Government of India on 31 May 1952, is the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama. It was created as the apex body in the country for the task of preservation and promotion of the performing art tradition of India. One of the important activities of the Akademi has been to give recognition and honours to artistes for setting standards in performing arts and restoring the art and artists to their rightful place in independent India.

HELEN ACHARYA Acting Secretary Sangeet Natak Akademi

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME: 9 -16 October 2012, DeLhi

UESDAY 9 OCTOBER FlCCI Auditorium, 6.00 p.m, Inauguration
AMJAD ALI KHAN: Sarod SHIVKUMAR SHARMA: Santoor UMAYALPURAM K SIVARAMAN: Mridangam

FRIDAY 12 OCTOBER MeghdootTheatre-III, 6.30 p.rn,

AYVAGARI SYAMASUNDARAM: Veena V.K. HYMAVATHY: Mohiniattam MANJUSREE CHATIERJEE: Kathak Dance THONNAKKAL PEETHAMBARAN: Kathakali with International Centre for Kathakali, New Delhi

FlCCI Auditorium, 6.00 p.m,

PRITI PATEL: Manipuri Dance ALEKHYA PUNJALA: Kuchipudi Dance PADMA SUBRAHMANYAM: Bharatanatyam with KARAIKUDI R. KRISHNAMURTHY: Mridangam

Shri Ram Centre, 6.30 p.m,

Subarnalata, play in Hindi, Direction: KIRTI JAIN, Presentation: Kshitij, Delhi

EDNESDAY 10 OCTOBER FlCCI Auditorium, 6.00 p.m,

MOHAN CHANDRASEKARAN: Carnatic Violin SHRUTI SADOLIKAR KATKAR: Hindustani Vocal GOPAL CHANDRA PANDA: Odissi Music RAMLI IBRAHIM: Odissi Dance

SATURDAY 13 OCTOBER MeghdootTheatre-II, 11.30 a.m.

GOPAL CHANDRA DAS: Putul Nach, Traditional String Puppetry, Tripura

Kamani Auditorium, 7.30 p.m.

Maya Bazar, play in Telugu, Direction: R. NAG ESWARA RAO (Babji), Presentation: Surabhi, Hyderabad

FlCCI Auditorium, 6.00 p.m,

J. VENKATRAMAN: Carnatic Vocal with E.M. SUBRAMANIAM: Ghatam NARTHAKI NATARAJ: Bharatanatyam

Meghdoot Theatre-III, 6.30 p.m.

SESHAMPATTI T. SIVALINGAM: Nagaswaram KALAMANDALAM GOPI: Kathakali

TUESDAY 16 OCTOBER FlCCI Auditorium, 6.00 p.m,

Nayika Mala, Choreography: R.K. SINGHAJIT SINGH, Presentation: Manipuri Nrityashram, Delhi The Child, Choreography: TANUSREE SHANKAR, Presentation: Tanusree Shankar Dance Company, Kolkata

MeghdootTheatre-III, 6.30 p.m,

Mukti, play in Punjabi, featuring NEENA TIWANA, Presentation: Harpal Tiwana Foundation, Patiala

HURSDAY 11 OCTOBER FlCCI Auditorium, 6.00 p.m,

TOTA RAM SHARMA: Pakhawaj MARATHE VENKATESHKUMAR: Hindustani Vocal PUSHPRAJ RAMLAL KOSHTI: Surbahar

SUNDAY 14 OCTOBER MeghdootTheatre-III 3.00 p.m, BELAGALLU VEERANNA: Togalu

Gombeyatta, Traditional Shadow Puppetry, Karnataka HEMANT RAJABHAI CHAUHAN: Folk Music, Gujarat

Meghdoot Theatre-III, 6.30 p.m.

Wapasi Ke Baad Ayodhya Babu, play in Hindi featuring AMITABH SRIVASTAVA, Direction: D.R. Ankur, Presentation: Sambhav, Delhi

Meghdoot Theatre-III, 6.30 p.m.

Memoirs of Africa, play in Manipuri, Direction: HEISNAM KANHAILAL, featuring Sabitri Heisnam, Presentation: Kalakshetra, Manipur

6.30 p.m. Chanda Bedni, playin Hindi, Direction: ALAKHNANDAN, Presentation: Nata Bundele, Bhopal MONDAY 15 OCTOBER MeghdootTheatre-III, 5.00 p.m,
Nangsa Otbum, play in Ladakhi, Direction: MIPHAM OTSAL, Presentation: Ladakh Theatre Organization, Ladakh

Shri Ram Centre, 6.30 p.m,

Karimayi, play in Kannada, written by CHANDRASEKHAR B. KAMBARA, Direction: B. Jayashree, Presentation: Spandana, Bengaluru

Awards~

Sangeet Natak Akademi

20nli!