Arsha Kala Bhushanam Awards 2009 given to five people in Tamil Nadu

Arsha Kala Bhushanam Awards 2009, instituted by Arsha Kalarangam, cultural wing of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, would be conferred on violinist MS Gopalakrishnan, flutist N Ramani, mridangam player Umayalpuram, K Sivaraman, vocalist TV Sankaranarayanan and AKC Natrajan for his contribution with clarinet, Swamy Dayananda Saraswati, who started the Gurukulam, said.
   
"These awards are to encourage classical musicians to continue their excellent contribution to the carnatic music world-wide and carry on a legacy to encourage more people to take up classic music," he told reporters here.
   
The award, carrying Rs1lakh each and a citation, would be presented on November five at Coimbatore. He said "at present the award is constituted only to carnatic music. We also want to introduce Hindustani music to this award."