Padma Shri awardee music composer-singer-lyricist Shekhar Sen, 53, has been appointed Chairman of the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi for a period of five years, the Ministry of Culture has announced. The post has been lying vacant since October 2014, when danseuse Leela Samson quit as its Chairperson, a year before her tenure was to end.

According to an order issued by the Ministry of Culture dated January 28, Sen has been appointed with immediate effect.

The Akademi is an autonomous body funded by the Ministry of Culture. Inaugurated on January 28, 1953 by India’s first President, Rajendra Prasad, it was set up to promote performing arts, such as dance, drama and music, across all the regions of the country.

Sen, a Bengali born and brought up in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, is known for his devotional albums as well as mono act musical plays, such as Tulsi, Kabeer, Vivekananda, Sanmanti, Saahab and Soordas. He has also undertaken research- oriented musical programmes, such as “Dushyant Ne Kaha Tha”, “Madhya Yugeen Kaavya”, “Pakistan Ka Hindi Kavya”, “Meera Se Mahadevi Tak”, an official release said.

He has performed in the US, the UK, Belgium, Surinam, Singapore, Jakarta, Hong Kong, South Africa, the UAE, Mauritius and Trinidad, and was also awarded the Safdar Hashmi Puraskar in 2001 by the Sangeet Natak Academy of Uttar Pradesh for his contribution in the field of theatre and the V. Shantaram Samman by the Maharashtra Rajya Hindi Sahitya Academy in 2008.

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