New Delhi, July 20: Vice-president M. Hamid Ansari will honour Manipuri dancer P. Iboton Singh and Sattriya dancer Manik Borbayan along with a host of artistes from all over the country with awards of excellence in music, theatre, dance, folk arts like puppetry and tribal dances and, for overall contribution to performing arts on July 22.

While the names were announced earlier this year, they have now been formally declared.

Ansari will name four eminent artistes of the country as Sangeet Natak Akademi fellows, 38 others will receive awards of excellence for contributions to their respective fields.

Odissi dancer Aruna Mohanty will be among those up for honours on that day, along with Rabindrasangeet singer Dwijen Mukherjee, stage act-or Swatilekha Sengupta, sita-rist Budhatiya Mukherjee and Kathak dancer Malabika Mitra from West Bengal.

Composer Ashok Ranade and theatre critic Jaidev Taneja will be felicitated for their overall contribution to performing arts. Two joint awa-rds will be given for qawwali and glove puppetry. These will go to the Warsi brothers, Naz-eer and Naseer Ahmed Khan Warsi, from Hyderabad and Palakkad’s K.V. Ramakrishnan and K.C. Ramakrishnan respectively.

The fellowship carried a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh and the awards, Rs 1 lakh each. Winners also get a Tamrapatra (copper plaque) and an angavastram.

The ceremony will be followed by a thumri recital by Girija Devi.

After the awards, Delhi will witness a nine-day festival of music, dance and drama from July 23 to 31. Award winners like Hindustani vocalist Yashpaul, flautist Nityanand Haldipur, Harikatha balladeer M.V. Simhachala Sastry, Carnatic vocalist Mysore Nagamani Srinath will perform during the festival. There will also be theatre performances by Swa-tilekha Sengupta and Maya Krishna Rao.

An Akademi statement said through these awards it strived to withstand “the juggernaut of globalisation, so that the variegated expressions of India’s cultural identity continue to flower and flourish.”