Sangita Kalanidhi award for Dr. S. Soumya

Renowned Carnatic Musician Dr. S Soumya is selected for the prestigious Sangita Kalanidhi Award for the year 2019. The Executive Committee of The Music Academy in its meeting held today, 21st July 2019, unanimously decided on the Sangita Kalanidhi and other awards. Along with it, Sangita Kala Acharya (2 Awards), T.T.K. Awards (2 Awards), Musicologist Award, Nritya Kalanidhi were also announced. Sangita Kala Acharya Awards will be presented to Smt. Seetha Narayanan, Smt. M.S. Sheela while Shri. Vyasarpadi Kothandaraman and Shri Rajkumar Bharathi will be presented T.T.K. Awards. Musicologist Award and Nritya Kalanidhi will be presented to Dr. Arati N.Rao and Smt. Priyadarsini Govind respectively, said Sri N Murali, President of the Music Academy.

A disciple of Sangita Kalanidhi Dr S. Ramanathan and Sangita Kala Acharya T. Muktha, S. Sowmya is one of the foremost exponents of the art today. A Ph.D. holder from the University of Madras, she is known for her intellectual approach to music. She is a part of the faculty of The Music Academy’s Advanced School of Carnatic Music. She is also on the Academic Council of the Tamil Nadu Music and Fine Arts University. She will preside over the 93rd Annual Conference of The Music Academy to be held from 15th December 2019 to 1 st January 2020

Smt. Seetha Narayanan is a senior performer and guru and embraces a wide variety of schools - the Sangita Kalanidhi Tiger Varadachariar bhani and the Sangita Kalanidhi Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer bhani that she absorbed through several disciples of the stalwarts. She also came under the tutelage of Sangita Kalanidhi Dr S Ramanathan. She has trained numerous students in her style.

Smt. M.S. Sheela, the other Sangita Kala Acharya awardee is a torchbearer for Carnatic Music in Karnataka. She holds a post graduate degree in the subject. She trained under her mother MN Rathna and later under Sangita Kalanidhi RK Srikantan. She has established her name in the classical, devotional and light music genres. She has trained several disciples who carry forward her style of music.

Shri. Vyasarpadi Kothandaraman, is among the most popular Nagaswaram artistes in the field, Kothandaraman comes from Thirupulivanam near Kanchipuram. He had his training 2 under his father, Gopalaswami, and is not only a popular performer known for emphasising the lyrical aspects via his music but is also a guru, teaching several students the difficult and demanding art of nagaswaram.

Shri Rajkumar Bharathi is a great grandson of the national poet Subramani Bharathi. He began his tutelage under his mother Lalitha, when 5. He later trained under Valliyur Gurumurthi, and Sangita Kalanidhis M Balamuralikrishna and TV Gopalakrishnan. Beginning as a performer, he later moved on to composing, for dance, audio CDs, fusion projects and thematic presentations.

Dr. Arati N.Rao is Assistant Professor, Jain University, Bengaluru where she researches and teaches in the area of musicology. She received her Ph.D., from the University of Mysore on the topic ‘ Vijayanagara as a Seat of Music’. She has published several papers in journals and presented papers in international conferences apart from being involved in ongoing research projects.

Smt. Priyadarsini Govind, selected for The Nritya Kalanidhi Award for Dance, is one of the foremost Bharatanatyam dancers among the current generation. She was trained by two stalwarts, Shri S.K. Rajarathnam Pillai and Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan and has performed in all the major centres in India and abroad in a career spanning two decades. She has also participated in many international Dance festivals and collaborative works apart from having some productions to her credit. She has received the Kalaimamani award from the Government of Tamil Nadu. She was the Director of Kalakshetra Foundation for a term until recently

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