Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar

In news– Sangeet Natak Akademi has selected 102 artists of India for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the years 2019, 2020 & 2021.

About the award-

It is given to artists below the age of 40 years, and was introduced with the objective of identifying and encouraging outstanding young talents in diverse fields of performing arts and giving them national recognition early in their life, so that they may work with greater commitment and dedication in their chosen fields.
Younger artists cover the entire gamut of the performing arts such as vocal music, both Hindustani and Carnatic, instrumental music both Hindustani and Carnatic including Flute, Sitar and Mridangam, and other major traditions of music also.
The award carries a purse of Rs. 25,000/. The Yuva Puraskar is presented at a special ceremony by the Chairman, Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Ustad Bismillah Khan-

Bismillah Khan, often referred to by the title Ustad, was an Indian musician credited with popularising the shehnai, a reeded woodwind instrument.
Bismillah Khan was born on 21 March 1916 into a family of traditional Muslim musicians at the town of Dumraon, Bihar, as the second son of Paigambar Bux Khan and Mitthanbai.
His father was a court musician employed in the court of Maharaja Keshav Prasad Singh of Dumraon Estate in Bihar.
His two grandfathers Ustad Salar Hussain Khan and Rasool Bux Khan were also musicians in the Dumraon palace.
At the age of six, he moved to Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh,to be apprenticed to his maternal uncle, Ali Bux ‘Vilayatu’ Khan, a shehnai player attached to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
At the age of 14 Bismillah accompanied his uncle to the Allahabad music conference.
While the shehnai had long held importance as a folk instrument played primarily schooled in traditional ceremonies, Khan is credited with elevating its status and bringing it to the concert stage.
He was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2001, becoming the third classical musician of India after M. S. Subbalakshmi and Ravi Shankar to be awarded the Bharat Ratna.

The Sangeet Natak Akademi –

It is India’s national academy for music, dance and drama – is the first National Academy of the arts set-up by the Republic of India.
It was created by a resolution of the Ministry of Education, Government of India, dated 31 May 1952 notified in the Gazette of India of June 1952.
The first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, inaugurated it on 28 January 1953 in a special function held in the Parliament House.
The Akademi’s charter of functions was expanded along the original lines in 1961, when the Sangeet Natak Akademi was reconstituted by the Government as a society and registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 (as amended in 1957).
These functions are set down in the Akademi’s Memorandum of Association, adopted at its registration as a society on 11 September 1961.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi is presently an Autonomous Body of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and is fully funded by the Government for implementation of its schemes and programmes.