New Delhi: The one-time Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Awards will be presented to 84 artistes from the field of performing arts. Indian artistes aged above 75 years who have not been accorded any national honour in their career so far will be conferred the award. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will present the awards on Saturday.

Five artistes from Kerala will also be recognised for their efforts to propagate the performing arts. The award will be conferred on Playwright C L Jose, Ottan Thullal exponent Kalamandalam Prabhakaran, Kathakali artist Appuni Tharakan, Bharatanatyam dancer Vilasini Devi Krishnapillai and Carnatic musician Mangad K Natesan.

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Addressing a press conference on Friday, Sandhya Purecha, chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi, said this award is bestowed on performing artistes as well as teachers and scholars in the field of performing arts.

"The recipients are selected by the Akademi's General Council, consisting of distinguished musicians, dancers, theatre artists and scholars in these disciplines and nominees of the Central government, state governments, and Union Territories," Purecha said.

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The list of awardees include Krishen Langoo (theatre and music) from Jammu and Kashmir, John Claro Fernandes (playwriting) from Goa, Mahabir Nayak (folk music and dance) from Jharkhand and Tsering Stanzin (folk music) from Ladakh.

The list also includes three artistes from Andhra Pradesh, two from Arunachal Pradesh and six from Maharashtra. Three from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and two each from Punjab and Delhi have also been selected.

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Four artistes each are from Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka while five each from Assam and Rajasthan have been named in the list. The award carries a purse of Rs 1 lakh, besides a Tamrapatra' and Angavastram'.

The award ceremony will be followed by a four-day festival from September 16 to 20 at the Akademi complex featuring the recipients of the awards  

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