Four Odias among veteran artists to get Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Award
Four Odias among veteran artists to get Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Award
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Bhubaneswar: The Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Award-2022 will be given to four outstanding Odisha artists.
Chhau dancer Siba Prasad Das, theatrical director Anant Mahapatra, folk musician (Brahma veena player) Ananda Bag, and Gotipua dancer Gobinda Chandra Pal are among the honorees.
The Akademi announced the prize list following its general council meeting in New Delhi on Friday. Droupadi Murmu, President of India, will bestow the prizes during a special investiture ceremony.
Kumkum Lal, a New Delhi-based Odissi dancer and former student of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, has also been chosen for the honour.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi also announced Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for 2019, 2020, and 2021. This year, the majority of these honours will be handed to Chhau and Odissi dancers.
Sutapa Talukdar and Rajendra Kumar Pattnaik will get the honours for Odissi and Chhau dance styles in 2019, and Rabindra Atibudhi and Trilochan Mohanta for Chhau dance in 2020.
Susmita Das, a singer, will win the Sugam Sangeet award in 2021, as will Bijay Kumar Jena, a dancer, and Manoj Pattnaik, a theatre director.
Susmita will receive the honour for her poetry-based songs about current topics.
Notably, both the Amrit Award and the Akademi Puraskar come with a financial prize of Rs 1 lakh and a Tamrapatra and an Angavastram.
It is worth noting that the award is a one-time honour bestowed by the Akademi on artists as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to commemorate 75 years of India's independence.
