The Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy has chosen renowned tabla artiste Ravindra Yavagal from Dharwad and gamaka artiste Subramanya Bhat of Kasargod for the Karnataka Kalashree Award 2016-17. “This is an honorary award for their lifetime contribution to music,” said academy president Gangamma Keshavamurthy.
A group, comprising 25 committee members, headed by the academy president have chosen 18 artistes from various districts of the State for the annual awards. “We will distribute the awards in about six weeks’ time,” Ms. Keshavamurthy said. The list of awardees include: Carnatic music: K. Varadarangan, (vocal, Bengaluru); Nagarathnamma (violin, Mysuru); Suryanarayanacharya (mridanga, Kolar), and Gururaj (Morching, Ballari). Hindustani Sangeeta: Parameshwar Hegde (vocal, Honnavara); Ramulu Gadagi (vocal, Bidar), and Bandopant Kulkarni (tabla, Belagavi). Sugama Sangeeta: Amayya Matha (Yadagiri); Viresh Kithoora (Gadag), and Sukumara Babu (Layavadhya Bengaluru). Dance: Sheela Sridhar (Mysuru), Sathyanarayana Raju (Bengaluru), and Poornima Ashok (Bengaluru). Katha Keertana: Hanumantha Das (Tumakuru). Gamaka: Bharati Bhat (Belagavi) and Shailaja Chandrashekar (Mandya).