Ten luminaries from Indian music, including Gulzar, Asha Bhosle and Yesudas have been named 'People of the Year' at the unveiling of the 23rd Limca Book of Records.
Legendary sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, who honoured the musicians with a citation and a shawl, said he was delighted to be the one giving the awards.
Speaking at the event, Pandit Ravi Shankar said: "It is a new role for me. I am normally at the receiving end of awards. It is a great pleasure for me at the age of 92 to give awards to the people who I have been admiring since long. It is my first venture as an award giver."
Other artists in the list are folk singer Teejan Bai, violin virtuoso L Subramaniam, tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, vocalist Shubha Mudgal, musician Ilaiyaraaja, vocalist Pandit Jasraj and flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia.
Almost all those who received the awards from Pandit Ravi Shankar said that it was a matter of pride for them.
Asha Bhosle, who recently entered the Guinness World Records for maximum number of recordings, said she was surprised that Delhi people did not speak in Hindi and later thanked the audience for understanding her speech in Hindi.
"No one in Delhi speaks Hindi. I recently entered the Guinness World Record for singing most songs but this award is the biggest honour because it has come through Pandit Ravi Shankarji. I met him after a long time and he reminds me of Tagore. God has forgotten to create people like him."
Yesudas and L Subramanium thanked their fathers for giving them the gift of music. The former recited a Sanskrit shloka and said he was still the student of music.
Subramanium recalled his association with Ravi Shankar and George Harrison in the 70s. The violinist said he left medicine to study music much to the shock of his family but they supported his choice.
Teejan Bai, the Pandavni singer, said she did not understand about the honour but later realised that it was given to nice people.
The 23rd edition of the Limca Book of Records by Coca-Cola India is dedicated to music and features over 10,000 awe-inspiring feats in its latest edition, of which 6000 are new records achieved by Indians.
