The Vice-President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, will present the one-time Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Awards tomorrow on the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to 84 artists from the field of performing arts of India who are above the age of 75 years and have not been accorded any national honour in their career so far.
From Meghalaya, Gloucester Nongbet (85) will be conferred with the award. The honour carries a financial prize of Rs 1 lakh besides a citation and shawl.
Born on July 8, 1938 in Shillong, Nongbet was initiated into the field of folk music at an early age. He is a retired official in the state’s Customs Department.
Nongbet is a passionate and accomplished folk singer, composer and musician with specialisation in the duitara – a stringed musical instrument of the Khasi community. He is also specialised in duitara-making and can play folk music instruments like the ksing – a traditional percussion instrument – flute, guitar and the electronic piano with dexterity.
Nongbet has written and composed more than 100 folk songs on nature, patriotism and devotional themes.
He is an ‘A’ grade artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan. He has given innumerable performances within Meghalaya and other parts of the country. Nongbet has also written many scripts for theatre and regional films and acted in the Khasi movie ‘Sha Ba Sep Ka Sngi’ and a few others.
Addressing a press conference today in New Delhi, chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi, Sandhya Purecha, said that the awards are a national honour bestowed on performing artists 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 Indian government, state governments, and Union territories.
Tomorrow’s award ceremony will be followed by a festival of performing arts featuring the recipients of Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Awards from September 16 to 20 at 6 pm daily at Meghdoot Complex, Sangeet Natak Akademi, in New Delhi.
