Bhubaneswar, Oct. 28: Six artistes from the state have been selected for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar in different disciplines for 2013 and 2014.

These recipients include Rajashri Prahraj for Odissi, Alok Agnibesh for theatre direction, Satish Kumar Modak and Lokanath Das for Chhau, Rabiratan Sahoo and Laxmipriya Dash for folk music. New Delhi-based Odia artiste Arun Kumar Malik has also been selected for the award for allied theatre arts - makeup.

The award, instituted by Sangeet Natak Akademi, is given to artistes below the age of 40 years. It identifies young talents in diverse fields of performing arts and gives them national recognition.

Rabiratan Sahoo earned widespread acclaim for his unique creation - music tree. He built an artificial tree with branches and placed around 40 rare musical instruments on it. The unconventional installation has been exhibited at various places across the state.

Sahoo is excited that his efforts to promote folk musical instruments of the state has finally received recognition.

"I want to promote traditional instruments of the state that are gradually fading away. The award will help me reach out to experts in the filed and work towards conservation of these instruments," said Sahu, who runs dance academies in Padampur and Bhubaneswar, where he trains youngsters in Sambalpuri folk dance.

Theatre director Alok Agnibesh from the group Shatabdira Kalakar, on the other hand, aims to bring professionalism to theatre.

"We need to imbibe a professional attitude among theatre artistes to make a mark on the national level. From set designing to direction, we need to experiment with various aspects of theatre," he said.

He has directed nearly 20 plays and was an assistant director in around 20 more. He considers his Kanaka Upatyakara Kahani, based on a short story by Manoj Das, as his most memorable work.

He is working on Ebam Abhimanyu now, through which, he hopes to capture the origin of the mythological character from Mahabharata.

Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi secretary Dhira Mallick said: "Getting recognition at an early phase in life would encourage them to work with greater commitment and dedication. We would try to promote them further at various state and national cultural festivals."

In 2012, Odissi dancer yudhistir Nayak, folk singer Padmini Dora and theatre director Malini Nihar Nayak received the award.