President Pranab Mukherjee gives Sangeet Natak Akademi awards

New Delhi Doyen of Indian theatre M S Sathyu eminent vocalists S R Jankiraman Vijay Kumar Kichlu and Harmonium player Tulsidas Borkar were on Saturday awarded coveted Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship by President Pranab MukherjeeTulsidas Vasant Borkar receiving the Fellowship of Sangeet Natak Akademi from President Pranab Mukherjee at Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards 2014 function at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi PicPTIAlong with them 35 other noted personalities from various disciplines of dance drama and music were conferred Akademi awards for 2014 by the President at a glittering ceremony in the imposing Darbaar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan hereEminent folk singer from Jammu and Kashmir Abdul Rashid Hafiz who is known for his renditions of traditional singing Chakri was among eight artists facilitated for their contribution in traditional arts61year old Hafiz who trained under Sarangi Nawaz Gulam Muhammad Dar is known for giving Chakri his own touch Chakri is one of the most popular types of traditional music played in Jammu and Kashmir The responsorial singing uses harmonium and traditional instruments like the rubab the nout the geger and the chimtaThe Akademi Awards carries purse money of Rs one lakh in cash a Tamrapatra and an Angavastram Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships Akademi Ratna Sadasyata and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards Akademi Puraskar are recognised as the most coveted national honours bestowed on performing artists as well as teachers and scholars in the field of performing artsAmong the eminent artists awarded fellowship of the Akademi 85yearold Sathyu is doyen of Indian theatre known for his classic movie Garam Hawa on partition which introduced actors like Farooq Sheikh to Indian cinema Besides he has designed and directed productions for many theatre groups including Hindustani Theatre Alyque Padamsees Theatre Herbert Marshalls civic theatre Balraj Sahnis Juhu Art Theatre among others His play Mudra Rakshas will be performed on October 27Vijay Kumar Kichlu is known for his efforts of preservation and propagation of classical music From a successful business executive Kichlu headed Sangeet Research Academy at Calcutta now Kolkata in 1977Kichlu who trained under Moinuddin Dagar and Aminuddin Dagar has been associated with many prestigious institutions such as Indian Council for Cultural Research ICCR Sangeet Natak Akademi working group on culture for 12th Five Year Plan He is also the author of book Raga RevelryS R Jankiraman 87year old Carnatic music vocalist is also the author of large number of publications which included Sangita Sastra Sarany in Telugu Raga Lakshanas in Tamil Ragas of Saramrta Ragas at a glance in English He has also presented papers on music in seminars and workshopsTulsidas Vasant Borkar has given Harmonium his own touch blending vocal and instrumental usages in the stage performance He modified the structure of harmonium raising its keyboard and a new tuning technique He has also published a book on harmonium playing called Samadhini SadnaAmong 36 awardees all but Navtej Singh Johar creative and experimental dancers were present to receive the awards In the music category the award was given to Ashwini Bhide Deshpande Iqbal Ahmed Khan Nath Neralkar Nayan Ghosh Ronu Majumdar R Santhanagopalan Thiruvalaputhur T A Kaliyamurthy Sukanya Ramgopal and Dwaram Durga Prasada Rao Arayambath Janardanan Uma Dogra N Amusana Devi Vedantam Radhesyam Sudhakar Sahoo Anita Sharma Jagru Mahto VaranasiVishnu Nampoothiri received the coveted awardsIn theatre category playwright Asgar Wajahat directors Surya Mohan Kulshreshtha and Chidambar Rao Jambe actors Deb Sankar Halder and Ramdas Kamat theatre musicians Amardas Manikpuri and Amond Bhatt and Yakshagana artist Manjunath Bhagwat Hostota were conferred the award by the PresidentTradition artists Puran Shah Koti K Kesavasamy Kalamandalam Ram Mohan Reba Kanta Mahanta K Shanathoiba Sharma Ram Dayal Sharma Thanga Darlong were given the awards while in overall contribution Akshara KV and Indudhar Nirody were also facilitated