Tagore Award for Peter Pannke
Felicitation by Yogendra
(October 2009)
World music visionary Peter Pannke has received the Tagore Cultural Award 2009 of the Indo-German Society (DIG). The award, including a prize money of 5000 Euros, was presented in a function at the DIG's annual gathering in Stuttgart on October 10th. Second awardee was linguist and indologist Dieter B. Kapp, expert on tribal languages in Southern India and German translator of Hindi and Tamil literature.
Peter Pannke, born in 1946, studied sinology, indology, comparative musicology and religious studies before going on extended journeys throughout Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and India and learning dhrupad singing with the families of the Malliks and Dagars. In order to earn due respect for various styles of Indian music, Peter Pannke published more than 80 CDs and LPs, presented over 4000 radio broadcasts and wrote for Lettre International, TAZ, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, GEO, Independent and Songlines. Highlights of his work as author, journalist, composer, musician, musicologist and producer were the festivals „Parampara! – Indian Music on its Way to the West“ and „Pakistani Soul '97“, both in the house of world cultures in Berlin, the music theatre project "Morungen" on the oriental journey of medieval minstrel Heinrich von Morungen and the books "India – Feast of Colours", "Troubadours of Allah – Sufi Music in the Indus Valley" and "Singers Have to Die Twice - A Journey into the Unheard India".