A glittering ceremony was held at Rashrapati Bhawan last week to honour the 45 2016 SNA awardees, including four fellows. Awards were given for excellence in Hindustani Music, Carnatic Music, Dance, Theatre, Folk Music, Dance, Theatre and Puppetry, “Sugam Sangeet” and “Other Major traditions of Music” and two awards for overall contribution in the arts. It was awe inspiring to think that since 1952, these awards have been presented in the same huge domed hall, under the watchful presence of the statue of the Buddha, in the same formal ritual devised years ago. The awardees sit separately, at the side, and the audience, comprising members of the SNA board, Union ministers related to Culture, past Akademi awardees and the general public connected with the Arts, face the President. President Ram Nath Kovind in his speech after the awards were given, implored the selected artists to continue in their efforts to prepare and train the next generation of artists for the nation so that our cultural heritage continues.

As Aruna Sairam, Vice Chairman of the Akademi, and herself, as a top Carnatic vocalist, one of the finest bridges between Carnatic and Hindustani audiences, said “we make sure that there is total unanimity on the awardees — even if there is one dissenting voice in the Committee, we hold the decision.” The fact that the selection committee had so many very senior established artists who had themselves reached the pinnacle of their professions and had no professional goals to attain may have also added to the ease of the process of selection, she felt — “there is no angst left”. She added that there was a general feeling now that South Indian artists were being given greater visibility — despite Carnatic practitioners far outnumbering Hindustani musicians, their voice was earlier not so prominent. Having only four Southern States with Carnatic musicians was perhaps the reason; the Committee today has several senior artists from the South. Having a Chairman representing the Hindustani tradition, and a Vice Chairman representing Carnatic music too was a good step, she felt.

Perhaps the most touching nomination was 88-year-old Akademi Fellow Vidushi R.Vedavalli, who said she was happy to accept the Fellowship on a day, when nine years ago her mother had passed away. The All India Radio Doordarshan and the Sangeet Natak Akademi held the Nation’s treasures. Other Akademi Fellows were 91 year old sitariya Pt Arvind Parikh, senior most disciple of Ustad Vilayat Khan, Shri Ram Gopal Bajaj for theatre and Shri Sunil Kothari for dance.

The awardees for Hindustani music were vocalists Padma Talwalkar, Prabhakar Karekar, veteran tabla exponent Arvind Mulgaonkar and Grammy nominated violinist Kala Ramnath. Prabhakar Karekar, known for his erudition but today largely not heard on the concert circuit admitted that “award mila hai late, lekin bahut anand hai”. This indeed is the correct spirit of the true artist who does not yearn for public recognition but appreciates it gratefully if it comes. Kala Ramnath was grateful for her nomination despite being relatively young; no violinist had been honoured for several years.

The awardees for Carnatic music were vocalists Neela Ramgopal, K Omankutty, violinist Mysore Manjunath and mridangist J Vaidyanathan. Mysore Manjunath had lost his father and Guru a few weeks earlier but was grateful that the awards had been announced last year, so his father had known of this recognition. Despite his impressive lineage, (he is the nephew of Vidushi D K Pattammal and son of  D K Jayaraman) Vidwan J Vaidyanathan attributes the award to his skill of over 40 years as a percussionist. He said he was “thrilled and honoured, both” by the award.

Awards were given to 9 eminent dancers, in 9 different dance styles – Geeta Chandran for Bharatanatyam, veteran Jitendra Maharaj for Kathak, Kalamandalam Ramachandran Unnithan for Kathakali, Maisnam Kaminikumar Singh for Manipuri, A B Bala Kondala Rao for Kuchipudi, Ratikant Mohapatra for Odissi, Haricharan Bhuyan Borbayan for Sattriya, Gopal Prasad Dubey for Chau, and finally Anita R Ratnam for Contemporary dance. Geeta Chandran, who many said should have received this award earlier said “any award is deeply satisfying; when it is the SNA award the joys and responsibilities are both overwhelming. The SNA award is unique since it is the community of artists that bestows it, so it is precious in so many ways.”

Awards were also given to folk and theatre artists from Gujarat, Himachal, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, Bihar, Orissa and Rajasthan. One wished that each had worn the costume of their land, like the Himachali artist Vidyanand Saraik with his Himachli topi and “choga”. Two awards were given for overall contributions to the Arts — to Delhi’s Avinash Pasricha for his photography and Dr Pappu Venugopal Rao, author, Telugu and Sanskrit scholar and musicologist.

The writer writes on music, music matters and musicians