Sangeet Natak Akademi is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.
Teejan Bai is an exponent of Pandavani, a traditional performing art form, from Chhattisgarh, in which she enacts tales from the Mahabharata, with musical accompaniments.
Suresh Ishwar Wadkar is an Indian playback singer. He performs in both Hindi and Marathi films. He has sung songs in some Bhojpuri films, Odia albums and bhajans and in Konkani films.
Pandit Ritwik Sanyal is an Indian classical singer and the Dhrupad maestro from Varanasi. He is a retired professor and Ex Dean from the department of vocal music at the faculty of performing arts at Banaras Hindu University. On 5 April 2023, Pandit (Dr.) Ritwik Sanyal was conferred the Padma Shri award for 2023 in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the revival and propagation of the Dhrupad tradition, both as an academician and performer. A recipient of the esteemed Kendriya Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2013, presented by the then Hon. President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, Pandit Ritwik Sanyal has now received the 4th highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, from President of India, Droupadi Murmu.
Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram, also known as Vikku Vinayakram, is an Indian percussionist. He is also known as the God of ghatam. He plays Carnatic music with the ghatam, an earthen pot, and is credited with popularising the ghatam.
M.S. Gopalakrishnan, a.k.a. MSG, was a violinist in the field of Carnatic music. He is commonly grouped with Lalgudi Jayaraman and T.N.Krishnan as part of the violin-trinity of Carnatic Music. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1997. He was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, Kalaimamani, Sangeetha Kalanidhi and Sangeet Natak Akademi awards.
Pandit Vijay Raghav Rao was an Indian flutist, composer, choreographer, musicologist, poet and fiction writer.
Umayalpuram Kasiviswanatha Sivaraman is an Indian musician and exponent of the Carnatic percussion instrument, the mridangam. He is a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
Trippunithura Narayana Krishnan was an Indian Carnatic music violinist. Along with Lalgudi Jayaraman and M. S. Gopalakrishnan he was considered part of the violin-trinity of Carnatic music. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1980. He was also the recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 1992, and earlier, the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 1973.
Siyaram Tiwari was an Indian classical singer and leading exponent of Dhrupad-genre of Hindustani classical music. He belonged to the Darbhanga gharana and was based in Patna. Though Darbhanga gharana is known for its laykari techniques, he was the first exponent of the gharana to promote fast-paced laykari in Dhrupad, which developed in the second half of 20th-century.
Shanno Khurana is a noted Indian classical vocalist and composer, from the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana of Hindustani classical music. A disciple of the doyen of the gharana, Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan, she is known for performing rare bandish and raag, though her singing style includes genres like khayal, tarana, thumri, dadra, tappa, to chaiti and bhajan. Born and brought up in Jodhpur, she started singing on All India Radio in 1945 in Lahore, later shifted to Delhi, where she continued her singing on All India Radio, Delhi and in concerts and music festivals. She also pursued music education, finally earning her M.Phil. and PhD in music from the Kairagarh University, and has undertakes extensive research on folk music of Rajasthan.
Gopeshwar Banerjee or Gopeshwar Bandopadhyay (1880–1963) was an Indian classical singer and musicologist, belonging to Bishnupur gharana of Hindustani music, which originated in Bishnupur in West Bengal. He was known for his khyal and dhrupad renditions, besides Rabindra Sangeet. He also sang thumri, and most notably the thumri, Kon Gali Gayo Shyam, in Raga Mishra Khamaj, which he popularised. As a musicologist, he published several books of rare compositions with musical notations, including dhrupad and Rabindra Sangeet.
Mani Krishnaswami, was a Carnatic music vocalist of Tamil Nadu, India.
Geeta Mahalik is an Indian Odissi dancer. The Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri in 2014 for her services to the field of art and culture.
Khumanthem Ningol Nameirakpam Ongbi Ibemni Devi was an Indian singer of traditional music, known for her expertise in the Khongjom Praba genre of Manipuri music. The Government of India honoured Ibemni Devi in 2012, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
Yamunabai Waikar, née Yamunabai Vikram Jawle was an Indian folk artist, known for her expertise in the Marathi folk traditions of Lavani and Tamasha, folk art forms involving music and dance and reported to be one of the leading exponents of the art genres. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, she was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Rita Ganguly is an exponent in the Indian classical arts. An accomplished dancer, musician and vocalist, she was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2000 and with the Padma Shri in 2003. She is the mother of actress Meghna Kothari and the younger sister of the famous Ravindra Sangeet singer Gita Ghatak.
Valayapatti A. R. Subramaniam is an Indian classical musician and percussionist, considered by many as one of the foremost prominent exponents of thavil also known as dolu, a traditional percussion instrument in Carnatic music, accompanying windpipe instruments such as nadaswaram, saxophone, clarinet, etc, and string instruments like violin, mandolin, etc. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2009. He is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for his contributions to Music.
P. R. Thilagam, popularly known as Thiruvarur Thilagam, is an Indian composer, vocalist and exponent of Kuravanji, a traditional form of dance drama popular in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She hails from Kondi parampara of the Isai Vellalar community, a sect of women dedicated to the worship at Thyagaraja Temple, Tiruvarur.
Nidumolu Sumathi, also known as Dandamudi Sumathi is an Indian percussionist, primarily playing the mridangam. She is married to "Mridangam Maestro" Sri Dandamudi Ram Mohan Rao. She is one of the first female mridangam players in India, and the first female Laya Vinyasam artist. Sumathi received India's fourth-highest civilian award, Padma Shri, in 2021.
