Rabab and matka (Kashmiri folk music) · INDIA
Schoolboy from Baramulla who plays the rabab and matka; received the PMRBP 2024 (Art & Culture). The official profile records a Bhai Mardana National Award in 2020 (single-origin; The Better India adds it was presented by the NGO Sarhad). Student of Doon International School Baramulla.
Age reported two ways in January 2024: 12 in the official profile, 13 in The Better India
Jammu & Kashmir · India
BEHIND THE RESULT
Ishfaq Hamid is a schoolboy from Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir, and a student of Doon International School Baramulla. On 22 January 2024 he received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar in the Art and Culture category from President Droupadi Murmu at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi — one of seven children honoured for art and culture among the 19 awardees that year. The next day, he and the other awardees met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ishfaq plays two traditional instruments: the rabab, the lute-like instrument at the heart of Kashmiri and Central Asian music, and the matka, an earthen-pot percussion instrument. The Government of India’s official awardee profile says he had won praise at various festivals before the national award, and records that he received the Bhai Mardana National Award in 2020; The Better India adds that the 2020 honour was presented by the NGO Sarhad. His school celebrated the Bal Puraskar publicly, and Kashmir’s regional press covered his homecoming.
If an instrument like the rabab is to survive, who do you think should teach the next player — schools, families, or young musicians themselves? That is a question from us, not part of his record.
Source-based story · the activities are prompts for readers.
Open the article edition →Schoolboy from Baramulla who plays the rabab and matka; received the PMRBP 2024 (Art & Culture). The official profile records a Bhai Mardana National Award in 2020 (single-origin; The Better India adds it was presented by the NGO Sarhad). Student of Doon International School Baramulla.
2024-01-22 · Supporting source ↗
Doon International School Baramulla · school post, 4 July 2024 ↗School report
PIB · official PMRBP 2024 awardee list ↗Official award list
Original source ↗
PakhawajWest Bengal · India
Pakhawaj player from Siliguri; received the PMRBP 2024 (Art & Culture) — the cohort’s only West Bengal recipient — for his playing in the Dhrupad tradition.
Reported 13 in January 2024 (official award material)
Read the story →India Book of Records ↗Source photograph · see credit
Mental mathematics and children’s authorshipChhattisgarh · India
Mental-maths record holder (India Book of Records: youngest to solve 100 multiplication sums, 12 min 28 sec, confirmed 10 March 2022, aged 4) and author of three books by age six (Pink Dolphin; Planex; My Continent Asia); received the PMRBP 2024 (Art & Culture) aged six.
Born 19 March 2017 (India Book of Records); 6 at the award in January 2024
Read the story →India Book of Records ↗Source photograph · see credit
Free-hand paintingGujarat · India
Free-hand painter from Vadodara living with severe cerebral palsy; 250 free-hand paintings by January 2024; Gujarat Book of Records 2023 entry (painting, craft, puzzle-solving, per Gujarati reporting); donates her monthly disability pension to a special child care institute; received the PMRBP 2024 (Art & Culture).
Age reported two ways in January 2024: 13 in the official award material, 12 in Gujarati newspapers
Read the story →Influencer Book of World Records ↗Source photograph · see credit
