Sangeet Natak Akademi awards for Hariprasad Chaurasia, Amjad Ali Khan

New Delhi: Flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia, santoor player Shivkumar Sharma, sarod player Amjad Ali Khan and Manipuri dance guru Rajkumar Singhajit Singh are among the 11 personalities who will be conferred the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships by President Pranab Mukherjee Oct 9 in the capital.

They will receive purse money of Rs.3 lakh and a citation. Other fellows include mridangam player Umayalpuram Kasiviswanatha Sivaraman, Kalamandalam Gopi (kathakali artist), Padma Subrahmanyam (Bharatnatyam dancer), Chandrasekhar Basavanneppa Kambara (Kannada poet, playwright and folklorist) and Manipuri theatre personality Heisnam Kanhailal. Currently, the Sangeet Natak Akademi has 40 living fellows. Altogether, 36 artists will receive the Akademi awards for their contribution to performing arts and music, a statement by the ministry of culture said. IANS