A programme was organised as a tribute to the vainika at Narada Gana Sabha's mini hall in Chennai. It was held in association with Kalapradarshini.

The late vainika belonged to the Veena Dhanammal school of playing veena and has composed several devotional songs. She was 80, when she gave her last veena concert for AIR in July 2003. At the tribute last Friday, daughters of the vainika, Mathangi Veerabahu and Raji Ramachandran alongwith their students, including four-year old tiny tots, presented a music concert featuring songs composed by the vainika.

Some of the compositions were also presented in a Bharatanatyam recital by Parvathi Ravi Ghantasala.

Speaking on the occasion, B.R. Kumar, former Station Director, All India Radio, recalled the contribution of Vasantha Saravanan as a veena artiste.

S. Veerabahu, son-in-law of Vasantha Saravanan shared with the audience his insights into the vainika's life and the motivation for her compositions. He said, "She would wake up in the very early hours of the morning and thoughts flowed as if by divine guidance. She wrote them down on small pieces of paper in her dimly lit bedroom over a period of about 45 years. She composed these into 66 krithis in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Sanskrit, tuned them to various Carnatic ragas and offered as raga pushpam to the various deities."

About 67 compositions of Vasantha Saravanan are available in a book, 'Kirthana Malai'. (For copies, contact: Ph: 26225116, E-mail: sramchand@rediffmail.com).

The vainika's family resides at Balaji Apartments, 6, 3rd Street, East Abhiramapuram, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004. India. Ph: 91-44-24995296.