Chennai: Popular Carnatic vocalist S Sowmya will be honoured with the prestigious ‘Sangita Kalanidhi‘ award by The Music Academy this year. She would preside over the 93rd annual conference of the academy that will be held from 15 December 2019 to 1 January 2020.
According to a media report, the Executive Committee of the academy unanimously chose the singer for the award. Other winners were also announced at the meeting.
The press release issued by the academy said, “Dr S Sowmya, an outstanding Carnatic vocalist has been chosen for the coveted Sangita Kalanidhi award. A disciple of Sangita Kalanidhi Dr S Ramanathan and Sangita Kala Acharya T Muktha, Sowmya is one of the foremost exponents of the art today.”
The Sangita Kalanidhi and other music awards would be conferred at the Sadas of the Music festival on 1 January 2020. The Nritya Kalanidhi award would be presented during the inaugural of the dance festival on 3 January 2020.
Sangita Kala Acharya award would be given to vocalist Seetha Narayanan and M S Sheela, who has been a torch-bearer of Carnatic music in Karnataka.
Popular Nagaswaram artiste ‘Vyasarpadi‘ Kothandaraman has been selected for the TTK Award. Great grandson of Subramani Bharathi, Vocalist Rajkumar Bharathi will be bestowed with the TTK Award.
Assistant professor in Bengaluru-based Jain University, Arati N Rao will receive the Musicologist Award, and the Nritya Kalanidhi title would be conferred on Bharatanatyam dancer Priyadarshini Govind.