The General Council of the Sangeet Natak Akademi has selected 33 persons from the field of Music, Dance and Theatre for the Akademi Puraskar on December 18, 2007. The awardees in the field of music are eight eminent artists, namely, Vidyadhar Vyas and Govardhan Mishra for Hindustani Vocal Music, Nandan Mehta and Ramoo Prasad Shastri for Hindustani Instrumental Music (tabla and violin respectively), B Krishnamurthy for Carnatic Vocal , Vidya Sankar for Carnatic Instrumental (Veena), S R D Vaidyanathan (Nagaswaram) and Mohammad Zahoor Hashimi for Creative and Experimental Music.

The Akademi Puraskars have been conferred since 1952. They symbolize the highest standard of excellence and achievements on a national basis and recognize sustained individual work and outstanding contribution to the practice and appreciation of the arts through performance, teaching and scholarship.