Presentation of Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the year 2008 on 10 September 2009

Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the year 2008 will be presented here by Shri Ram Niwas Mirdha, Chairman, Sangeet Natak Akademi, at a special investiture on Thursday, 10 September 2009. The ceremony will be followed by a weeklong festival of Music, Dance and Theatre etc. featuring some of the recipients of the year from 10-16 September 2009.

The ‘Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar’ was instituted in the year 2006 by Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, an autonomous body of Ministry of Culture, Government of India and apex institution of performing arts in the country. The puraskar is meant to encourage outstanding young talents in diverse fields of performing arts and give them national recognition early in life so that they may work with greater commitment and dedication in life-long pursuit of their chosen art-form. The Puraskar is given to performing artists below the age of 35 years as on 1st April of the year and covers music, dance, theatre, puppetry and scholarship in performing arts.

The puraskar for the year 2008 was decided by the General Council of Sangeet Natak Akademi at its meeting held in April 2009, in New Delhi. 33 young artists who have made a mark in their respective fields of performing arts have been selected from all over the country.

In the field of Music, eight Puraskars to nine young artists (including one joint award) namely Rajnish Mishra & Ritesh Mishra (Joint Puraskar) and Vishal Jain for Hindustani Vocal; Jay Shankar Mishra (Tabla) and Debopriya Chatterjee (Flute) for Hindustani Instrumental Music; V.Sumitra and Manasi Prasad for Carnatic Vocal; C.S.Balabhaskar (Violin) and B.S.Purushotham (Kanjeera) for Carnatic Instrumental Music were selected.

In the field of Dance, eight outstanding artists namely Gayatri Balagurunathan, Bharatanatyam; Gauri Diwakar, Kathak; Vijaya Kumar.N., Kathakali; Bimbavati Devi, Manipuri; Rahul Acharya, Odissi; Arunima Kumar, Kuchipudi; Meernanda Barthakur, Sattriya and Purvadhanashree (Vilasini Natyam) for Other Major Traditions of Dance were selected.

In the filed of Theatre also eight outstanding artists namely Sumeet Sharma and Amitesh Grover for Direction; Vajinder Kumar and J.L.Saritha for Acting; Irawati Karnik for Playwriting; Ajay Kumar (Music for Theatre) and Govind Singh Yadav (Lighting) for Allied Theatre Arts and R.K.Sanaton Singh (Shumang Leela, Manipur) for Major Traditions of Theatre were selected.

For their work to Other Traditional/Folk/Tribal Dance/Music/Theatre and Puppetry, Ritu Verma, Pandavani (Chhattisgarh); Daya Ram, Mand (Rajasthan); Sayed Muhammed Irfan P.P., Folk Music-Dolippattu (Lakshadweep); Mayanglambam Mangangsana Meitei, Traditional Music-Pena (Manipur); Shabir Ahmad Saznawas, Soofiyana Kalam (Jammu & Kashmir); Pramoda Kumar Nahak, Prahald Natak (Orissa), Sudharshan K.V., Yakshagana Gombeyatta (Traditional String & Rod Puppetry), Karnataka and Srikanta Bose for Mime were selected.

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