FUKUOKA PRIZE 2018

Grand Prize
Jia Zhangke
China / Film （Born in 1970）
Mr. Jia Zhangke is one of the most outstanding film directors of 21st
century China. His films, set in provincial Chinese cities, and especially
his native Shanxi Province, offer masterfully realistic presentation ofordinary Chinese people who have suffered from but have also managed
to chart their own course through the social tensions caused by rapid
economic progress, and particularly of the younger generation’s hopes
and claustrophobic frustrations. They have won high praise both inChina and across the world.
Academic Prize
Akira Suehiro
Japan / Economics, Area Studies (Thailand) （Born in 1951）
Prof. Akira Suehiro is one of the leading Japanese scholars of Asian
economic studies. His academic works, founded on his studies of the Thai
economy, have elucidated the industrialization process across whole Asiaand the realities of the Asian economies, and he has taken a leading partin Asian studies in Japan. He has also contributed to the organization of
Asian Studies and to training the younger generation of researchers.
Arts and Culture Prize
Teejan Bai
India / Music （Born in 1944）
Dr. Teejan Bai is a leading performing artist and a contemporary
exponent of Pandavani, a narrative singing of the Mahabharata, theancient Indian epic. Although she suffered doubly in Indian society fromprejudice both as a woman, and for her tribal background, with her rareartistic gift and powerful deter mination, she has kept singing. Her
success has given courage and encouragement to women and those
suffering from repression.

Fukuoka Prize 2018

Grand PrizeJIA Zhangke
China
Film Director
Born May 24, 1970 (aged 48)
Biography
1970
1997
1998

2000
2006

2007

2010
2011
2013

2014
2016

2017

Born in Fenyang, Shanxi Province, China
B.A., Beijing Film Academy
Directed a feature‐length film Xiao Wu [Pickpocket] as graduation project
Xiao Wu [Pickpocket] presented as a world premiere at Forum section and won the
Wolfgang Staudte Prize and the NETPAC Award (Network for the Promotion of Asian
Cinema) of the International Forum of New Cinema at the 48th Berlin International Film
Festival
Platform selected in the Competition section at the 57th Venice International Film Festival
and received the NETPAC Award
Still Life, a feature film, and Dong, a documentary film, selected in Competition and in
Orizzonti [Horizons] respectively at the at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival andwon the Golden Lion (Still Life)
Selected as one of the Young Global Leaders at World Economic Forum
Served as Jury President for Cinéfondation and Short Films at the 60th Cannes InternationalFilm Festival
Funded “Wings Project” to promote young directors and help with their growthServed as Jury President for Orizzonti [Horizons] section at the 68th Venice InternationalFilm Festival
Won the Best Screenplay Award at the 66th Cannes International Film Festival (A Touch of
Sin)
Listed in the 100 Leading Global Thinkers in Foreign Policy magazine
Served as a jury member for the main competition at the 67th Cannes International Film
Festival
Served as an Official Selection Jury Member at San Sebastian Film Festival
Selected as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Launched “JIA Screen”, a video platform which introduces short films from around theworld to China
Established the Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival(PYIFF) in Pingyao, Shanxi Province

Major Awards
1996
1998

Gold Award, Drama Category, 2nd Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Awards (Xiao
Shan [Going Home]) ＊50‐min video film
Wolfgang Staudte Prize and NETPAC Award, The International Forum of New Cinema, 48th
Berlin International Film Festival; Golden Montgolfiere, 20th Festival des 3 Continents, Nantes;
L’Age d’Or Prize, Royal Film Archive of Belgium; New Currents Award, 3rd Pusan
International Film Festival; Dragon & Tiger Award, 17th Vancouver International Film Festival
1

2000
2001

2002
2003
2006
2007

2008

2009
2010
2013

2015

2016

(Xiao Wu [Pickpocket])
NETPAC Award, 57th Venice International Film Festival; Golden Montgolfiere, Award of theCity of Nantes, 22th Festival des 3 Continents, Nantes (Platform)
FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique [International Federationof Film Critics]) Prize, Don Quijote Award by FICC (Fédération Internationale des Cine‐clubs[International Federation of Film Societies (IFFS)]), 15th Fribourg International Film Festival;
Young Cinema Award, Singapore International Film Festival; Best Film, Buenos Aires
International Festival of Independent Cinema (Platform)
Grand Prix of the International Competition, 13th Marseille International Film Festival (InPublic)Special Mention, 16th Singapore International Film Festival (Unknown Pleasures)
Golden Lion, 63rd Venice International Film Festival (Still Life)Best Director, 1st Asian Film Awards (Still Life); Grand Prize, Chinese Documentary Award,
Taiwan International Documentary Festival (Dong); Venice Horizons Documentary Award,
64th Venice International Film Festival (Useless)
Best Foreign Film, Best Foreign Film Director, 81th Kiname Jumpo Awards; Best Foreign Film,
62th Mainichi Film Awards; Best Foreign Language Film, 34th Los Angeles Film Critics
Association Awards; Best Foreign Film, Dai 50‐kaiAsahi Besuto Ten Eigasai [50th Asahi BestTen Film Festival] (Still Life); FIPRESCI Award, 18th Films from the South Festival, Norway (24Cities)
Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France
Leopard of Honor, 63rd Festival del Film Locarno; Prince Claus Award, Prince Claus FundBest Screenplay Award, 66th Cannes International Film Festival; Best Foreign Film, 17th
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards; Best Foreign Film, French Syndicate of Cinema
Critics Awards; Black Pearl Award‐Narrative, 7th Abu Dhabi Film Festival (A Touch of Sin)
Audience Award, Award to the European Film, 63th Saint Sebastian International Film
Festival; Best Original Screenplay, Audience Choice Award, 52nd Taiwan Golden HorseAwards (Mountains May Depart); The Carrosse dʹOr Award by the SRF (Société desRéalisateurs de Films [French Film Directorsʹ Guild]) , 68th Cannes International Film Festival
Best Screenplay, 10th Asian Film Awards; Best Foreign Language Film, San Diego Film Critics
Society’s 2016 Award (Mountains May Depart)

Major Films
Xiao Wu [Pickpocket ](1997)
In Public (2001) *Documentary
The World (2004)
Dong (2006) *Documentary
24 City (2008)
Mountains May Depart (2015)

Platform (2000)
Unknown Pleasures (2002)
Still Life (2006)
Useless (2007) *Documentary
A Touch of Sin (2013)
Ash is Purest White (2018)2

Grand Prize
Mr. Jia Zhangke (China / Film)【Award Citation】
Mr. Jia Zhangke is one of the most outstanding film directors of 21st century China.
He has been highly praised worldwide for his masterpieces, many of which are set inprovincial cities like those in his native Shanxi Province. These films depict ordinary
people who chart their individual course, not without suffering, through the social
tensions caused by rapid economic progress, and especially give a realistic and vivid
picture of both the hopes and claustrophobic frustrations of the young generation.
Mr. Jia was born in Fenyang, Shanxi Province, in 1970. At high school his artistic
inclinations found expression in novel-writing and oil-painting, but the impact of seeing
Chen Kaige’s 1984 film Yellow Earth turned his heart towards becoming a film director.
Admitted to study at the Beijing Film Academy in 1993, he distinguished himself evenas a student. He directed Xiao Wu [Pickpocket] in 1997 as his graduation project, abouta young man in Fenyang who makes a living as a pickpocket. Despite being the work ofa mere student, this was selected for the International Forum of New Cinema of the
Berlin International Film Festival, and won a double success with the Wolfgang
Staudte Prize and the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) Award.
In his second film, Platform (2000), set in the 1980s after the end of the Cultural
Revolution, he showed the coming-of-age experiences of four young men and women
who belonged to a travelling theatre company. The film was selected for the maininternational competition of the Venice International Film Festival, and won the top
award of the Festival des 3 Continents in Nantes, the Golden Montgolfiere prize. Thisfilm marked the beginning of Mr. Jia’s collaboration with the Office Kitano in Japan,
and his creative activity began to develop within an international network.
In Unknown Pleasures (2002), he presented an unemployed man who plans to rob abank, utterly indifferent to the bubbling excitement around him at the prospect ofhosting the 2000 Olympics, and in The World (2004), he focused on men and women
working at a theme park in suburban Beijing, and their anxieties about the future. The
former was nominated for the competition section at the Cannes International Film
Festival, and the latter, at the Venice International Film Festival. In 2006, Still Life
won the top award at the Venice International Film Festival, the prestigious Golden
Lion, for Best Film, and consolidated his reputation decisively. This film depicts the waythat ordinary people’s lives are tossed about at the mercy of fate, focusing on the
personal stories of a man and a woman, each of whom comes to the old town of Fengjie

as it is being submerged by the Three Gorges Dam, with some surrealistic scenes and atouch of science fiction inserted.
Many of Mr. Jia’s films are set in provincial cities such as his own birth place of Shanxi
Province, and vividly depict people who find intelligent ways to navigate a rapidlychanging society, sometimes by making free use of challenging visual narrativetechniques. This distinctive combination of location, subject-matter and techniqueachieved further refinement in his more recent work, including A Touch of Sin (2013),
based on a real crime, and Mountains May Depart (2015), which combines three
episodes from the past, the present and the future, and juxtaposes the life of a motherand a child with the relationship between China, as it globalizes, and the rest of theworld. Mr. Jia has also hosted an international film festival in Pingyao, Shanxi Province,
since 2017, and thus provides young film directors with the opportunities to present
their work, making a big contribution to foster the next generation.
Mr. Jia Zhangke has thus earned high praise not only in China but also throughout theworld for his brilliant films, and for the richly textured depiction they provide of people
who have been tossed about by the waves of a turbulent era, but who at the same time
are determined to chart their own individual course through the tempest. For thisenormous contribution, he is truly worthy of the Grand Prize of the Fukuoka Prize.
【Short Citation】
Mr. Jia Zhangke is one of the most outstanding film directors of 21st century China. His
films, set in provincial Chinese cities, and especially his native Shanxi Province, offer
masterfully realistic presentation of ordinary Chinese people who have suffered frombut have also managed to chart their own course through the social tensions caused by
rapid economic progress, and particularly of the younger generation’s hopes andclaustrophobic frustrations. They have won high praise both in China and across theworld.

Fukuoka Prize 2018

Academic Prize

SUEHIRO Akira
Japan
Economist, Expert in Area Studies (Thailand)(Professor, Faculty of International Social Sciences, Gakushuin University)
Born August 30, 1951 (aged 66)
Biography
1951
1974
1976
1976‐87
1981‐83
1987‐92
1991
1992‐95
1992‐2005
1993‐98
1994‐95
1995‐2016
1998‐
1999‐
2001‐
2012
2012‐132016‐

Born in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, Japan
B.A., Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo
M.A., Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo
Researcher, Department of Area Studies, Institute of Developing Economies (IDE)
Visiting Research Fellow, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Associate Professor, Institute for Economic Research, Osaka City University
Ph.D., Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo
Associate Professor, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo
Standing Director, Japan Association for Asian Studies (JAAS) (2003‐05 President)
Visiting Professor, IDE Advanced School (IDEAS), Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO)
Visiting Professor, Free University of Berlin, Germany
Professor, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo (2009‐12 Director)
Member, Mizuho Asian Fund (2010‐Chairman)
Director, The Japanese Society of Thai Studies (2008‐11 President)
Member, Selection Committee for the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize (2016‐ Chairman)
Visiting Professor, Graduate School of El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico (May‐June)
Visiting Fellow, Collegium de Lyon, France (September‐February)
Professor, Faculty of International Social Sciences, Gakushuin University (‐2018 Dean)
Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo
Research Fellow Emeritus, Institute of Developing Economies (IDE), Japan External Trade
Organization (JETRO)

Major Awards
1985
1990
2001

2005
2007

6th Institute of Developing Economies Prize for Economic Development Studies (Tai‐kei Kigyo
Shudan no Shihon Chikuseki Kozo [Capital Accumulation of the Thai Business Groups])
6th Prize of Ohira Masayoshi Memorial for Asian Studies, The 33rd Nikkei Economic Journal
Prize of the Best Book on Economics (Capital Accumulation in Thailand 1855‐1985)
13th Mainichi Shimbun Prize of the Best Book on the Asia‐Pacific Studies (Kyacchiappu ‐gata
Kogyoka‐ron: Ajia Keizai no Kiseki to Tenbo [Catch‐up Industrialization: The Trajectory and Prospects ofAsian Economies])
20th Daido Life Foundation Prize for Area Study (for a long‐time contribution to area study on
Asia)
2nd Kashiyama Junzo Prize of Asian Studies (Famiri Bijinesu‐ron: Kohatsu Kogyo‐ka no
Ninaite [Family Business: Agents of Late Industrialization])
1st Best Academic Book on Family Business (Famiri Bijinesu no Toppu Manejimento:
1

2010

Ajia to raten Amerika niokeru Kigyo Keiei [Top Management of Family Business], co‐edited with Ms.
HOSHINO Taeko)
Medal with the Purple Ribbon [Shiju Hosho] from the Japanese Government (for a
distinguished contribution to the area study on Southeast Asia)

Major Publications
Capital Accumulation in Thailand 1855‐1985, Tokyo: UNESCO The Center for East Asian Cultural Studies,
1989.
Tai: Kaihatsu to Minshushugi [Thailand: Development and Democracy], Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho, 1993.
Kyacchiappu‐gata Kogyoka‐ron: Ajia Keizai no Kiseki to Tenbo [Catch‐up Industrialization: The Trajectory andProspects of Asian Economies], Nagoya: Nagoya University Press, 2000.
Tai no Keizai Seisaku: Seido, Soshiki, Akuta [Economic Policy in Thailand: The Role ofInstitutions and Actors] (co‐editor, co‐author), Chiba: Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO, 2000.
Famiri Bijinesu no Toppu Manejimento: Ajia to raten Amerika niokeru Kigyo Keiei [Top Management of Family
Business] (co‐editor, co‐author), Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 2006.
Famiri Bijinesu‐ron: Kohatsu Kogyoka no Ninaite [Family Business: Agents of Late Industrialization], Nagoya:
Nagoya University Press, 2006.
Catch‐up Industrialization: The Trajectory and Prospects of East Asian Economies, Singapore: National
University of Singapore Press, 2008.
Tai: Chushinkoku no Mosaku [Thailand: Challenge to a Middle‐income Country], Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho,
2009.
Higashi Ajia Fukushi Shisutemu no Tenbo：Nanakakoku‐chiiki no Kigyo‐fukushi to Shakai Hosho Seido [Perspectiveof the Welfare System in East Asia: Company Benefits and Social Security System in Seven Economies] (editor,
author), Kyoto: Minerva Shobo, 2010.
The Oxford Handbook of Business Groups (co‐author), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Shinko Ajia Keizai‐ron: Kyacchi Appu wo Koete [Emerging Asian Economies: Beyond the Catch‐up
Industrialization Approach], Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 2014.
Higashi Ajia no Shakai Dai‐hendo: Jinko Sensasu ga Kataru Sekai [Drastic Demographic and Social Change in East
Asia: Analysis of the Population Censuses] (co‐editor, co‐author), Nagoya: Nagoya University Press, 2017.

2

Academic Prize
Prof. Akira Suehiro (Japan / Economics, Area Studies (Thailand))【Award Citation】
Prof. Akira Suehiro is one of the foremost academic experts in Japan on the Asian
economies. His substantial achievements, solidly based on detailed firsthandinvestigations in Thailand and other Asian countries, are unrivalled. Founded on
research into the economy of Thailand, they have elucidated the industrialization
process in Asia and the realities of the Asian economy, which has made a great
contribution to Asian Studies in Japan.
Prof. Suehiro was born in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, in 1951. He graduated from theFaculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo in 1974, and in 1976, received an M.A.
from the Graduate School of Economics of the same university. He then held a series ofimportant academic teaching and research posts related to the field of Asian economic
theory, first in the Department of Area Studies at the Institute of Developing Economics(IDE) (1976-87), then as Associate Professor at the Institute of Economic Research,
Osaka City University (1987-92), and subsequently as Associate Professor, Professor
and Director at the Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo (1992-2016);
currently he is Professor at the Faculty of International Social Sciences, Gakushuin
University, having served as its first Dean.
Prof. Suehiro’s most important early work, Capital Accumulation in Thailand

1855-1985 (1989), provided an empirical account of long-term trends in Thai capital
accumulation, through analysis of a wide range of documentary material and throughdirect investigation, and won high praise internationally. Since then he has published aseries of books and papers on contemporary Thai politics and economics, including

Thailand: Development and Democracy (1993), Family Business: Agents of Late
Industrialization (2006) and Thailand: Challenge to a Middle-income Country (2009).
Catch-up Industrialization: The Trajectory and Prospects of Asian Economies (2000)
opened up a new angle in research into industrialization and economic progress not onlyin Thailand but across the whole of Asia, and therefore represents a particularly
significant contribution. This book provides one of the most important Japanesetheories of Asian economics, using case studies from Thailand as a guide to Asian
industrialization and economic progress, with a particular focus on the promoters ofindustrialization, on ideology, and on institutions and systems. Later, in response tochanging economic situations in Asia, he published several works such as Emerging

Asian Economies: Beyond the Catch-up Industrialization Approach (2014).

Recently he has been working on new research themes, like the analysis of relations
between China and Southeast Asia, which has been part of his study of the great
Mekong region, and studies in social change in Asia using population statistics.
Prof. Suehiro’s contribution has not been limited to his outstanding academic work
but has extended to the organization of Thai and Asian studies and to fostering theyounger generation of scholars. He has served as President of the Japan Association for
Asian Studies (JAAS) and as President of The Japanese Society of Thai Studies, andhas greatly helped promote the Asian studies in Japanese academia. He has also acted
as an important intermediary between Japan and Southeast Asian countries. As
Chairman of the Mizuho Asian Fund, and as Chairman of the Selection Committee for
the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize, he has rendered a great contribution tocommunications and mutual-understanding between Asia and Japan. Yet another of his
contributions has been the large number of young Japanese and Asian researchers
whom he has trained.
For his remarkable contribution to the progress of Asian studies, and for his
outstanding achievements, he truly deserves the Academic Prize of the Fukuoka Prize.
【Short Citation】
Prof. Akira Suehiro is one of the leading Japanese scholars of Asian economic studies.
His academic works, founded on his studies of the Thai economy, have elucidated theindustrialization process across whole Asia and the realities of the Asian economies,
and he has taken a leading part in Asian studies in Japan. He has also contributed tothe organization of Asian Studies and to training the younger generation of researchers.

Fukuoka Prize 2018

Arts and Culture Prize
Teejan Bai
India
Pandavani Performer
Born August 8, 1956 (aged 61)
Biography
1956
1968

1969

1970
1982
1985‐86

1986‐
2001‐
2003

Born in Atari Village (Patan), Durga District, Chhattisgarh State, India
Was raised in Ganiyari Village
Married at the age of 12 (divorced without going to her husband’s home)
Learnt the traditional art of Pandavani from her maternal grandfather, and later received
informal training under Mr. Umed Singh Deshmukh
Gave her first public performance in a neighboring village, Chandrakhuri (Durg), singing
in the Kapalik shaili [style] of ʹPandavaniʹ, the first time for a woman
Became known in neighboring villages and invitations poured to perform at special
occasions and festivals
Was ousted by the community for singing Pandavani as a woman
Performed at a concert organized by Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal
Performed for then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi
Performed for Indian festival in Poland, her first performance abroad
Travelled all over the world as a cultural ambassador to countries including France,
Germany, and the UK
Worked at the Bhilai Steel Plant
Established a troupe to give performances and train pupils
Honorary Doctorate in Literature, Guru Ghasidas University in Bilaspur, Raipur University,
Jabalpur University

Major Awards
1988
1996
1998
1999
2003
2008
2012
2013

2014
2015
2016

Padma Shri, Government of India
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Devi Ahilya Sammaan Award
Isri Award
Aditya Vikaram Birla Kala Shikhar Sammaan Award
Padma Bhushan, Government of India
Chandrasekarendra Saraswati National Eminence Award
Was selected as one of the 10 Indian music maestros for ʹPeople of the Yearʹ 2012 in the Limca
Book of Records
Radio Top Listener Award
Alvas Nudisiri World Heritage Award
Chhattisgarh Award
Mahira Nau Ratna Award
H.L.Nagegaura Rashtriya [National] Award
M.S.Subbulakshmi National (Centenary)Award

Major Performances
2010
2011
2015
2016
2017

International Women’s Day concert, India
Teejan Bai: The Pandavani Festival, Vadodara, India
East Central Railway Women Welfare Association (ECRWWA), Patna, India
The 33th Foundation Day of Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal, India
Sahaj Parab, Kolkata, India
Bengaluru Poetry Festival, Bengaluru, India
Meet the Masters Series: Teejan Bai, New Delhi, India

To add these, many other performances in India including programmes by the Society for the Promotionof Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth (SPIC MACAY) and abroad such as in France,
Switzerland, Germany, the UK, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, Turky, Yemen, Bangladesh, and Mauritius.

Arts and Culture Prize
Dr. Teejan Bai (India / Music)【Award Citation】
Dr. Teejan Bai is a leading performing artist and a contemporary exponent of the
traditional artistic form of Pandavani, a sung recitation based on the Mahabharata, theancient Indian epic. Although she has suffered doubly in Indian society from prejudice,
both as a woman and as a member of a tribal society, with her rare artistic gift andpowerful determination she has kept singing. Her success has given courage andencouragement to women and those suffering from repression.
The Mahabharata, is a story of a war fiercely fought in the northern Indian plain
around 1000 BC between two groups of princes who were cousins. Different local
versions of sung narratives based on this story evolved and spread, but Pandavani did
not follow the classical form strictly, and won popularity among ordinary people throughthe use of the local language of Chhattisgarhi.
In ancient India, bards had the role of passing on local folklore and traditions fromone generation to the next with their rich oral skills. Forming a pair with the popularfavorite, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, is much grander in its volume and contents,
and no other ancient or modern epic from East or West can compare with it. Even one
episode takes several nights to recite, and to understand the philosophical backgroundto the story is not easy.
These ancient epics are said to have originated in the time before Christ, and theircontents are profound and esoteric. On the other hand, they were transformed into themuch more easily understandable media of music and dance, and these were further
developed with narrations in local languages and improvised dialogues. The narrated
songs which are current today have not preserved all the features from 2000 years ago,
but the simplified sung narrative and the expressiveness of mime can penetrate moredeeply into people’s hearts, across centuries and borders. Dr. Bai’s performance,
especially, conveys a truly sincere voice which does not necessarily follow Hindu
religious precept or academic authority, but is the voice of a woman from a tribal society
who lives in an isolated village in central India. No other person can reproduce thepowerful depth of her voice and the enchanting short dialogues, distinctive of
Pandavani, which she exchanges with her accompanists, as if ensuring communication
with them.
Dr. Teejan Bai has received many honors including the Padma Shri conferred by the
President of India, and the even more prestigious award given by the government, thePadma Bhushan, and honorary degrees from several local universities. She is often
invited to give performances abroad. However, all these honors have not changed her
way of living; she devotes herself to her beloved Pandavani, but continues to work at the
local ironworks when she is free.
But her early life was far from ordinary. Her tribal society, which survives throughits ancient lifestyle of hunting and gathering, is particularly hard for women. Dr. Bai
was forced to marry at the age of 12, and her family and community all objected to her
doing her favorite activity which was singing in front of others. She was eventually
reduced to living alone in a shabby hut, and moreover experienced several divorces andthe loss of her children. But her powerful determination to perform Pandavani and tolead her own life has made her an inspiration for women living in Indian society, andshe has passed on her great courage to help them go on with their lives.
Her life has thus provided a contribution that goes beyond the world of musical art.
Her influence has extended to cover social aspects and much else besides, and she istherefore a worthy recipient of the Arts and Culture Prize of the Fukuoka Prize.
【Short citation】
Dr. Teejan Bai is a leading performing artist and a contemporary exponent of Pandavani,a narrative singing of the Mahabharata, the ancient Indian epic. Although she suffereddoubly in Indian society from prejudice both as a woman, and for her tribal background,with her rare artistic gift and powerful determination, she has kept singing. Her successhas given courage and encouragement to women and those suffering from repression.