Mridangam maestro Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman and Mohan Chandrasekaran, the visually disabled Carnatic violinist, both Mylaporeans were among India’s top artistes who were awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship, the highest award for artistes.
President Pranab Mukherjee presented these awards on October 9 at Rashtrapathi Bhavan, Delhi.
Besides the fellowships, 36 eminent personalities and artistes were conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi awards.
Among these was 48-year-old Bharatanatyam dancer Narthaki Nataraj from Mylapore.
The list of Akademi awardees decorated by J. Venkatrama (Carnatic vocal music), Elappulli Mahadevaiyer Submramaniam, Ayyagari Syamasundram and Sheshampatti T Sivalingam (all three for Carnatic instrumental music) and Karaikudi R Krishnamurthy (music for dance – mridangam).
