Legends of India to honour Prabha Atre, Ebrahim Alkazi

New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) Legends of India confer Lifetime Achievement Awards to Hindustani classical vocalist Prabha Atre, theatre veteran Ebrahim Alkazi and Himmat Shah for fine arts.

The awards are conferred upon living legends who have contributed in taking Indian art forms to a different platform among the masses in the country and abroad, said a press statement.

The award will be presented on the occasion of Annual Legends of India Sangeet Mahotsav. Starting Dec 26, the two-day event will take place at the Siri Fort Auditorium here.

There will be live performances by Uday Bhawalkar (vocal), Bhai Baldeep Singh (vocal), Gundecha Brothers in jugalbandi with Igino Brunori and Virginia Nicoli (saxophone and flute), Ustad Bahauddin Dagar (rudra veena) besides a jugalbandi of flute by Ronu Majumdar and Rajan Sajan Mishra (vocal).

"Unless great art forms are recognised to involve with the education process, they will shrink to become mere showpieces in the current socio-economic situation," Dipayan Mazumdar, founder chairman, Legends of India, said in a statement.

The awards were first conferred in 2002. Some of the former awardees include Yamini Krishnamurthy, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Sitara Devi, Zohra Sehgal, Chandra Lekha and Birju Maharaj.