Carnatic musician P.R. Kumara Kerala Varma has been selected for the Swathi music award for 2021 instituted by the State government’s Culture department.
The award that comprises a cash purse of Rs.2 lakh, certificate, citation, and ponnada comes in recognition of his contributions to various areas of Carnatic music, a statement from the office of Minister for Culture Saji Cherian said on Thursday.
A jury with Carnatic vocalist K. Omanakutty as chairperson, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi secretary Karivellur Murali as member secretary, and musicians Parvathipuram H. Padmanabha Iyer and Kanhangad Ramachandran as members selected Kumara Kerala Varma for the award.
Jury chairperson K. Omanakutty said Kumara Kerala Varma was a musician who had sung maximum number of Swathi Tirunal compositions and published the compositions of Muthuswami Dikshithar, Tyagaraja, and Syama Sastri in book form. These books would be excellent textbooks for the future generations.
Kumara Kerala Varma who hails from Thiruvananthapuram began singing concerts at a young age. He completed his music studies from Sree Swathi Thirunal Government College of Music and in 1966 became a teacher at the same college. He retired from there after 28 years of service. He has won the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi award in 1993 and was given its fellowship in 2017.
The award presentation date will be announced later.
