33 artistes to get Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar

The Sangeet Natak Akademi, the national academy of music, dance and drama, said Saturday it has selected 33 young artistes for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2012.

The artistes belong to different schools of performing arts - music, dance, theatre, traditional, folk, tribal dance and mime and puppetry, said a statement from the Akademi.

The Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar was instituted by the Akademi in 2006 with the purpose of encouraging artistes of the younger generation in music, dance and drama.

It is given to artistes under 40 years who stand out for their talent and promise and who have made a mark in their chosen fields.

"The Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for 2012 goes out to eight musicians, eight dancers, eight theatre artistes, and eight practitioners of folk, traditional performing arts. The award for carnatic vocal music is shared by two artistes. The investiture is planned in the coming months," the statement said.

The selection of the artistes was made by Akademi's general council - an all-India panel of performing artistes and administrators - on the basis of nominations received from all over the country.

The selected artistes will each receive Rs.25,000.