Mukund Nayak (born 15 October 1949), is an Indian artist. He is a folk singer, songwriter and dancer. Nayak is an exponent of Nagpuri folk dance Jhumar. He is recipient of the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.

Early life and family

He was born in Bokba village of

Simdega district Simdega district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India, and Simdega town is the administrative headquarters of this district. This district is the least population density district of jharkhand(2011).This district was ca ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

(now

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . ...

) in 1949. He belongs to a family of a Ghasi community, who are traditionally musicians. He completed B.SC from Jamshedpur. He married Dropadi Devi. He has five children including Nandlal, Praduman and twin Chandrakanta and Suryakanta.

Career

With aim to preserve traditional folk arts, Mukund Nayak had started performing songs in public places with other cultural activist like Bharat Nayak, Bhavya Nayak,

Praful Kumar Rai Praful Kumar Rai was an Indian writer. He was one of the prominent writers of the Nagpuri-language in the modern period. He had a prominent role in publication in the Nagpuri language and in the formation of ''Nagpuri Bhasha Parishad'' in 1960. ...

Lal Ranvijay Nath Shahdeo Lal Ranvijay Nath Shahdeo (5 February 1940 - 18 March 2019), was a lawyer, poet, writer and political activist. He was a prominent leader of the movement for a separate Jharkhand state. He was president of the Jharkhand Party. He wrote several Nagp ...

and Kshitij Kumar. In 1974, he joined '' Akashvani'' as performer. His first performance at larger audience was at Jaganathpur Mela in

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

. In 1979, he left the job of an industrial chemist and joined the Song and Drama Division of Bihar Government. It gave him the opportunities to work in radio and television. With government patronage, he traveled abroad to perform in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. In 1980, when regional and tribal language department formed in Ranchi University, he became associated with the University. In 1981, he came in contact with Dr Carol Merry Baby researcher on Karam music of South Bihar and got a chance to work with her. In 1988, his troupe performed at the third "Hong Kong International Dance festival" of The Hong Kong Institute for the Promotion of Chinese Culture. In 1985, he established an organisation "Kunjban" to promote Nagpuri culture. Kunjban promotes Nagpuri culture, especially Nagpuri Jhumar. He also worked in many nagpuri films. His first nagpuri film was ''Sona Kar Nagpur'' produced and directed by Dhananjay Nath Tiwary produced in 1992 and released in 1994.

Filmography

Awards and honors

* Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 2019 *

, 2017 *Sanskritik Samman (2017) by Kala Sanskriti Vibhag. *Jharkhand Gaurav Sammaan by

Prabhat Khabar Prabhat Khabar is a Hindi language newspaper published daily in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. The newspaper is circulated in several states in India, including Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and some parts of Orissa. It was founded in August 1 ...

. *Jharkhand Ratna Award by Lok Kala Samiti & Dainik Jagran.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nayak, Mukund Living people People from Ranchi People from Simdega district 1949 births Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Indian male folk singers Indian male dancers Indian male singer-songwriters Nagpuria people Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award