Carnatic singer TM Krishna, musician Pala CK Ramachandran awarded Swathi Sangeetha Puraskaram by Kerala govt

Kerala’s Cultural Minister AK Balan announced on 2 February in Thiruvananthapuram that the 2018 and 2019 Swathi Sangeetha Puraskaram have been awarded to Carnatic musician Pala CK Ramachandran and vocalist TM Krishna respectively,  reports The New Indian Express.

An honour to receive the Swathi Sangeetha Puraskar (2019), the highest musical honour from the Kerala State Government, an award that was received by my guru Semmangudi Srinivasier and other greats D K Pattammal, Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, Bismillah Khan and K J Yesudas@CMOKerala

— T M Krishna (@tmkrishna) February 3, 2021

The award comprises a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh, a citation and an award, which will be given to the winners during a ceremony on 6 February. KPAC Lalitha, chairperson of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, vocalist Mukhathala Sivaji and Mannur MP Rajakumaranunni, among others, were part of this year’s jury. The  2017 edition of the award was won by violinist and composer, L Subramaniam. Named after the Maharaja of Travancore, Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma, the Swathi Sangeetha Puraskaram is the highest honour for musicians, instituted by the Kerala state government. It was founded in 1997, and previous winners have included Bhimsen Joshi, Bismillah Khan, Pandit Jasraj, Amjad Ali Khan and Yesudas. Previously, TM Krishna has also won the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2016. Among his latest creative endeavours is the  Edict Project , a musical rendering of the Ashokan Edicts sung in the original Magadhi Prakrit, and composed in ragas from the Carnatic music tradition.