Renowned Carnatic vocalist Thodur Madabusi Krishna will be conferred the 2024 Sangita Kalanidhi award by the Madras Music Academy, The Hindu reported on Sunday.
The Sangita Kalanidhi award is considered one of the highest honours in Carnatic music.
The academy’s executive committee has decided to confer Krishna with the award for his excellence in music.
“He has been a top-ranking and extremely talented musician for a long time and truly deserves the award for his music,” the newspaper quoted N Murali, the president of the academy, as saying. “The Music Academy has thought it fit to confer on him the award on the basis of sheer excellence in music.”
Krishna has used music as a tool for social reform, PTI quoted Murali as saying.
Krishna, 48, told The Hindu that “it is very overwhelming to be chosen for the award”. “It is also humbling because the recipients of the awardees include my teacher Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, T Brinda, MS Subbulakshmi who you admire and look up to for inspiration,” Krishna said on Sunday.
The musician will preside over the academic sessions of the 98th Annual Conference and Concerts of The Music Academy, the Deccan Herald reporting quoting Murali. The session will be held from December 15, 2024 to January 1, 2025, when he will receive the award.
Neena Prasad will be awarded the Nritya Kalanidhi, the academy’s recognition in the field of dance.
Krishna has won several awards not only for his music, but also for social activism.
In 2016, Krishna was awarded the coveted Ramon Magsaysay Award.
In its citation, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation had described the musician as one who identified the domination of caste in Carnatic music.
“He questioned the politics of art; widened his knowledge about the arts of the Dalits and non-Brahmin communities,” the foundation had said. “He devoted himself to democratising the arts as an independent artist, writer, speaker and activist.”
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